LAW ON OBLICON DEFINITIONS

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Terms Definitions
Accesory One which is attached to a principal obligation and, therefore,
Obligation cannot stand alone
Accessions The fruits of a thing or additions to or improvements upon a thing
(the principal)
Accessories Things joined to or included with the principal thing for the latter's
embellishment, better use or completion.
Active Solidarity Solidarity on the part of the creditors, where any one of them can
demand the fulfillment of the entire obligation; essential feature is
that of mutual representation among the solidary creditors with
powers to exercise the rights of others in the same manner as their
rights
Acts of God Events which are totally independent of the will of every human
being, e.g. earthquake, flood, rain, shipwreck, lightning, volcanic
eruption
Acts of man e.g. war, fire, robbery, nurder, insurrection
Alternative Several prestations are due but the performance of one is sufficient
Obligation as determined by the choice which, as a general rule, belongs to the
debtor
Application of The designation of debt to which should be applied the payment
payments made by a debtor whi has various debts of the same kind in favor of
one and the same creditor
Bilateral When both parties are mutually bound to each other; may be
Obligation reciprocal or non-reciprocal
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Capacity to The person is not incapacitated to enter into contracts and to make
alienate a disposition of the thing due.
Casual Condition The condition depends upon chance or upon the will of a third
person
Causal Fraud Fraud employed in the execution of a contract, which vitiates
consent
Civil fruits Those delivered by virtue of a juridical relation
Civil Loss When a thing disappears in such a way that its existence is
unknown
Civil Negligence Negligence which by itself is the source of an obligation between
the parties not so related before any pre-existing contract; also tort
or quasi-delict
Compensatio Delay of the obligors in reciprocal obligations i.e., delay of the
Morae obligor cancels the delay of the obligee, v.v.
Compensation The extinguishment to the concurrent amount of the debts of two
persons who, in their own right, are the debtors and creditors of
each other
Compensatory When the penalty takes place of damages
Penal Clause
Complete Covers the entire obligation
Condonation
Compliance in Compliance or performance in accordance with the stipulations or
good faith terms of the contract or agreement.
Compound There are two or more prestations
Obligation
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Compulsory Entitled to legitime

heirs
Conclusive One which cannot be contradicted, like the presumption that
Presumption everyone is conclusively presumed to know the law
Condition A future and uncertain event, upon the happening of which, the
effectivity or extinguishment of an obligation (or right) subject to it
depends
Conditional One whose consequences are subject in one way or another to the
Obligation fulfillment of a condition
Condonation It will take effect during the lifetime of the donor
inter vivos
Condonation It will become effective upon the death of the donor; must comply
mortis causa with the formalities of a will
Condonation or Gratuitous abandonment by the creditor of his right against the
Remission debtor; a form of donation
Confusion or The meeting in one person of the qualities of a creditor and debtor
merger with respect to the same obligation
Conjuctive There are several conditions and all must be fulfilled
Condition
Conjuctive There are several prestations and all of them are due
Obligation
Consignation The act of depositing the thing or amount due with the proper court
when the creditor does not desire or cannot receive it, after
complying with the formalities required by law
Contract A juridical convention manifested in legal form, by virtue of which
one or more persons bind themselves in favor of another or others,
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or reciprocally, to the fulfillment of a prestation to give, to do or

not to do.
Contractual Negligence in contracts resulting in their breach
Negligence
Contravention of Violation of the terms and conditions stipulated in the obligation
terms
Conventional Where the will of the parties makes as indivisible, obligations which,
Indivisibility by their nature, are divisible
Conventional Takes place by agreement of the parties
Novation

Conventional or Period agreed to by the parties

Voluntary Period
Conventional Provided for by the stipulation of the parties
Penal Clause
Conventional Solidarity is agreed upon by the parties; if nothing is mentioned in
Solidarity the contract, the obligation is only joint
Conventional (Novation - Subrogation) when it takes place by express agreement
Subrogation of the original parties
(the debtor and the original creditor) and the third person (the new
creditor)
Criminal Negligence resulting in the commission of a crime
Negligence
Dation in Conveyance of ownership of a thing as an accepted equivalent of
payment performance
Definite Period Period fixed or it is known when it will come
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Deflation The reduction in volume and circulation of the available money or

credit,r esulting in a decline of the general price level; opposite of
inflation
Delay or default Failure to perform an obligation on time which failure constitutes a
breach of obligation.
Delegacion (Novation - Substitution) which takes place when the creditor
accepts a third person to take place of the debtor at the instance of
the latter. The creditor may withold approval. All parties must
agree
Delivery or Ownership and other real rights over property are acquired and
tradition transmitted in consequence of certain contracts by tradition or
delivery.
Disjunctive There are several conditions and only one must be fulfilled
Condition
Disputable (or One which can be contradicted or rebutted by presenting proof to
rebuttable) the contrary
presumption
Distributive One or two or more of the prestations is due (alternative or
Obligation facultative)
Divisible The condition is susceptible of partial performance
Condition
Divisible One the object of which, in its delivery or performance, is capable
Obligation of partial fulfillment
Domicile The place of a person's habitual residence; the place where he has
true fixed permanent home and to which place he, whenever he is
absent, has the intention of returning
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Express Made either verbally or in writing

Condonation
Express So declared in unequivocal terms
Novation
Expromision (Novation - Substitution) which takes place when a third person of
his own initiative and without the knowledge or against the will of
the original debtor assumes the latter's obligation with the consent
of the creditor
Extra-ordinary Those events which are uncommon and which the contracting
fortuitous event parties could not have reasonably foreseen
Facultative When it can be set up by only one of the parties
Compensation
Facultative Only one prestation is due but the debtor may substitute another
Obligation
Fortuitous Event Any event which cannot be foreseen, or which, though foreseen, is
inevitable
Fraud Deliberate of intentional evasion of the normal fulfillment of an
obligation
Free disposal of The thing to be delivered must not be subject to any claim or lien or
thing due encumbrance of a third person
Generic or A thing is generic or determinate when it refers only to a class or
Indeterminate genus to which it pertains and cannot be pointed out with
particularity. Identified by its specie.
Ideal or One which exists only in the minds of the parties
Intellectual
Division
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Implied Inferred from conduct

Condonation
Implied When the old and the new obligations are essentially incompatible
Novation with each other
Incidental Fraud Committed in the performance of an obligation already existing
because of contract
Indefinite Period Period not fixed or it is not known when it will come
Indivisible The condition is not susceptible of partial performance
Condition
Indivisible One the object of which, in its delivery or performance, is not
Obligation capable of partial fulfillment
Industrial fruits Produced by lands of any kind through cultivation or labor.
Inflation A sharp sudden increase of money or credit or both without a
corresponding increase in business transactions; causes a drop in
the value of money, resulting in the rise of the general price level
Joint Obligation One where the whole obligation is to be paid or fulfilled
proportionately by the different debtors and/or is to be demanded
proportionately by the different creditors
Joint or When both the principal obligation and the penal clause can be
Cumulative enforced
Penal Clause
Judicial When it takes place by order from a court in litigation; merely a
Compensation form of legal or voluntary compensation when declared by the
courts by virtue of an action by one of the parties, who refuses to
admit it, and by the defense of the other who invokes it
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Judicial Costs Statutory amounts allowed to a party to an action for his expenses
incurred in the action

Judicial Period Period fixed by the court

Legal When it takes place by operation of law even without the
Compensation knowledge of the parties
Legal Occurs when the obligation cannot be performed because it is
Impossibility rendered impossible by provision of law, although physically it
may be possible of performance
Legal Where a specific provision of law declares as indivisible,
Indivisibility obligations which, by their nature, are divisible
Legal Loss When a thing goes out of commerce (e.g. when it is expropriated)
or when a thing heretofore legal becomes illegal
Legal Novation Takes place by operation of law
Legal Penal Provided by the law
Clause
Legal Period Period provided for by laws
Legal Solidarity Where solidarity is imposed by the law
Legal (Novation - Subrogation) when it takes place without agreement but
Subrogation by operation of law
Legal Tender That currency which a debtor can legally compel a creditor to
accept in payment of a debt in money when tendered by the debtor
in the right amount
Legitime Part of the testator's property which he cannot dispose of because
the law has reserved it for certain heirs, called compulsory heirs
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Loss A thing is lost when it perishes, or goes out of commerce, or

disappears in such a way that its existence is unknown or it cannot
be recovered
Mixed Condition The condition depends partly upon chance and partly upon the will
of a third person
Mixed novation When the object and/or principal conditions of the obligation and
the debtor or the creditor, or both the parties, are changed
Mixed Solidarity Solidarity on the part of the debtors and creditors, where each one
of the debtors is liable to render, and each one of the creditors has a
right to demand, entire compliance with the obligation
Mora Accipiendi Delay on the part of the creditor to accept the performance of the
obligation
Mora Solvendi Delay on the part of the debtor to fulfill his obligation
Natural fruits Spontaneous products of the soil, and the young and other products
of animals.
Natural Where the nature of the object or prestation does not admit of
Indivisibility division, e.g. to give a particular car, to sing a song, etc.
Negligence Voluntary act or omission, there being no malice, which prevents
the normal fulfillment of an obligation
Negotiorum The voluntary management of the property or affairs of another
Gestio without the knowledge or consent of the latter.
Non-reciprocal Those which do not impose simultaneous and correlative
Bilateral performance on both parties
Obligation
Novation Extinction of an obligation through the creation of a new one which
substitutes it; never presumed
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Obligation A juridical relation created by virtue of certain facts, between two

or more persons, whereby one of them, known as the creditor, may
demand of the other, known as the debtor or obligor, the
observance of a determinate conduct, and, in case of breach, may
obtain satisfaction from the assets of the latter.
Obligation with One which contains an accessory undertaking to pay a previously
a penal clause stipulated indemnity in case of breach
Ordinary Those events which are common and which the contracting parties
fortuitous events could reasonably foresee
Partial When two obligations are of different amounts and a balance
Compensation remains
Partial Does not cover the entire obligation
Condonation
Partial or When the old obligation is merely modified
modificatory
novation
Passive Solidarity on the part of the debtors, where any one of them can be
Solidarity made liable for the fulfillment of the entire obligation; in the nature
of mutual guaranty
Payment Consists of not only in the delivery of money but also the giving of
a thing (other than money), the doing of an act, or not doing of an
act; also, performance.
Payment by The assignment or abandonment of all the preoperties of the debtor
cession for the benefit of his creditors in order that the latter may sell the
same and apply the proceeds thereof to the satisfaction of their
credits
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Penal Clause An accessory undertaking attached to an obligation to assume

greater liability in case of breach, i.e., the obligation is not fulfilled,
or is partly or irregularly complied with
Period A future and certain event upon the arrival of which the obligation
subject to it either arises or is extinguished
Personal The subject matter is an act to be done or not to be done.
Obligation
Personal or When the person of the debtor is substituted and/or when a third
subjective person is subrogated in the rights of the creditor
novation

Personal Right Right or power of a person (creditor) to demand from another

(debtor), as a definite passive subject, the fulfillment of the latter's
obligation to give, to do or not to do.
Enforceable only against a particular person.
Physical Loss When a thing perishes as when a house is burned and reduced to
ashes
Pledge A contract by virtue of which the debtor delivers to the creditor or
to a third person a movable instrument evidencing incorporeal
rights for the purpose of securing the fulfillment of a principal
obligation with the understanding that when the obligation is
fulfilled the thing delivered shall be returned with all its fruits and
accessions
Potestative The condition depends upon the will of one of the contracting
Condition parties
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Prescription Acquisition of ownership and other rights through the lapse of time
in the manner and under the conditions laid down by law
Presumption The interference of fact not actually known arising from its usual
connection with another which is known
Principal One which can stand by itself and does not depend for its validity
Obligation and existence upon another obligation
Punitive Penal When the penalty is imposed merely as punishment for breach
Clause
Pure Obligation One which is not subject to any condition and no specific date is
mentioned for its fulfillment, and is, therefore, immediately
demandable
Qualitative One based on quality, not on number or quantity of the things which
Division are the object of the obligation
Quantitative One based on quantity rather than on quality
Division
Quasi-Contract A juridical relation resulting from lawful, voluntary and unilateral
acts by virtue of which the aprties become bound to each other to
the end that no one will be unjustly enriched or benefited at the
expense of another.
Quasi-Delict An act or omission by a person (tort feasor) which causes damage
to another giving rise to an obligation to pay for the damage done,
there being fault or negligence but there is no pre-existing
contractual relation between the parties.
Real Obligation The subject matter is a thing which the obligor must deliver to the
obligee.
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Real or objective When the object (or cause) or principal conditions of the obligation
novation are changed
Real Right The right or interest of a person over a specific thing (like
ownership, possession, mortgage), without a definite passive
subject against whom the right may be personally enforced.
Directed against the whole world.
Real Solidarity Where solidarity is imposed by the nature of the obligation
Reciprocal Those which arise from the same cause and in which each party is a
Bilateral debtor and a creditor of the other, such that the performance of one
Obligation is designed to be the equivalent and the condition for the
performance of the other.
Residence An element of domicile; requires bodily presence as an inhabitatnt
in a given place
Resolutory One the fulfillment of which will extinguish an obligation (or right)
Condition already existing
(Condition
subsequent)
Right The power which a person has under the law, to demand from
another any prestation.
Simple loan or A contract whereby one of the parties delivers to another, money or
mutuum other consumable thing, upon the condition that the same amount
of the same kind and quality shall be paid
Simple There is only one prestation
Obligation
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Solidary One where each one of the debtors is bound to render, and/or each
Obligation one of the creditors has a right to demand from any of the debtors,
entire compliance with the prestation
Solutio Indebiti The juridical relation which is created when something is received
when there is no right to demand it and it was unduly delivered
through mistake.
Specific or A thing is said to be specific or determinate particularly designated
Determinate or physically segregated others of the same class. Identified by its
individuality.
Subrogation A kind of novation when a third person is subrogated in the rights
of the creditor
Subsidiary or When only the penalty can be enforced
Alternative Penal
Clause
Substitution A kind of novation when the person of the debtor is substituted
Suspensive One the fulfillment of which will give rise to an obligation (or
Condition right); the demandability of the obligation is suspended until the
(Condition happening of the uncertain event which constitutes the condition
precedent or
condition
antecedent)
Tender of The act on the part of the debtor, of offering to the creditor the
payment thing or amount due.
Total When both obligations are of the same amount and are entirely
Compensation extinguished
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Total or When the old obligation is completely extinguished

extinctive
novation
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Unilateral When only one party is obliged to comply with a prestation
Obligation
Usury Contracting for or receiving in excess of the amount allowed by
law for the loan or use of money, goods, chattels or credits
Venue The place where a court suit or action must be filed or instituted
Voluntary When it takes place by the agreement of the parties
Compensation
Wrong An act or omission of one party in violation of the legal right or
rights of another; also, injury.