OBLICON DEFINITIONS

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Terms Definitions
Accesory Obligation One which is attached to a principal obligation and, therefore, 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 Obligation Several prestations are due but the performance of one is sufficient 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 made by a debtor whi
payments has various debts of the same kind in favor of one and the same creditor
Bilateral Obligation When both parties are mutually bound to each other; may be reciprocal or non-reciprocal
Capacity to alienate The person is not incapacitated to enter into contracts and to make 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 Morae Delay of the obligors in reciprocal obligations i.e., delay of the 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 Penal When the penalty takes place of damages
Clause
Complete Condonation Covers the entire obligation
Compliance in good Compliance or performance in accordance with the stipulations or terms of the contract
faith or agreement.
Compound Obligation There are two or more prestations
Compulsory heirs Entitled to legitime
Conclusive One which cannot be contradicted, like the presumption that everyone is conclusively
Presumption 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 Obligation One whose consequences are subject in one way or another to the fulfillment of a
condition
Condonation inter It will take effect during the lifetime of the donor
vivos
Condonation mortis It will become effective upon the death of the donor; must comply with the formalities of
causa a will
Condonation or Gratuitous abandonment by the creditor of his right against the debtor; a form of
Remission donation
Confusion or merger The meeting in one person of the qualities of a creditor and debtor with respect to the
same obligation
Conjuctive Condition There are several conditions and all must be fulfilled
Conjuctive Obligation There are several prestations and all of them are due
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, 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, by their nature, are
Indivisibility divisible
Conventional Novation Takes place by agreement of the parties
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Conventional or Period agreed to by the parties

Voluntary Period
Conventional Penal Provided for by the stipulation of the parties
Clause
Conventional Solidarity is agreed upon by the parties; if nothing is mentioned in the contract, the
Solidarity obligation is only joint
Conventional (Novation - Subrogation) when it takes place by express agreement of the original parties
Subrogation (the debtor and the original creditor) and the third person (the new creditor)
Criminal Negligence Negligence resulting in the commission of a crime
Dation in payment Conveyance of ownership of a thing as an accepted equivalent of performance
Definite Period Period fixed or it is known when it will come
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 tradition Ownership and other real rights over property are acquired and transmitted in
consequence of certain contracts by tradition or delivery.
Disjunctive Condition There are several conditions and only one must be fulfilled
Disputable (or One which can be contradicted or rebutted by presenting proof to the contrary
rebuttable)
presumption
Distributive Obligation One or two or more of the prestations is due (alternative or facultative)
Divisible Condition The condition is susceptible of partial performance
Divisible Obligation One the object of which, in its delivery or performance, is capable 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
Express Condonation Made either verbally or in writing
Express Novation So declared in unequivocal terms
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 parties could not have
fortuitous event reasonably foreseen
Facultative When it can be set up by only one of the parties
Compensation
Facultative Obligation Only one prestation is due but the debtor may substitute another
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 thing The thing to be delivered must not be subject to any claim or lien or encumbrance of a
due third person
Generic or A thing is generic or determinate when it refers only to a class or genus to which it
Indeterminate pertains and cannot be pointed out with particularity. Identified by its specie.
Ideal or Intellectual One which exists only in the minds of the parties
Division
Implied Condonation Inferred from conduct
Implied Novation When the old and the new obligations are essentially incompatible 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 Condition The condition is not susceptible of partial performance
Indivisible Obligation One the object of which, in its delivery or performance, is not 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 Cumulative When both the principal obligation and the penal clause can be enforced
Penal Clause
Judicial Compensation When it takes place by order from a court in litigation; merely a 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
Judicial Costs Statutory amounts allowed to a party to an action for his expenses incurred in the action
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Judicial Period Period fixed by the court

Legal Compensation When it takes place by operation of law even without the knowledge of the parties
Legal Impossibility Occurs when the obligation cannot be performed because it is rendered impossible by
provision of law, although physically it may be possible of performance
Legal Indivisibility Where a specific provision of law declares as indivisible, 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 Clause Provided by the law
Legal Period Period provided for by laws
Legal Solidarity Where solidarity is imposed by the law
Legal Subrogation (Novation - Subrogation) when it takes place without agreement but 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
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 Indivisibility Where the nature of the object or prestation does not admit of 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 Gestio The voluntary management of the property or affairs of another without the knowledge
or consent of the latter.
Non-reciprocal Those which do not impose simultaneous and correlative performance on both parties
Bilateral Obligation
Novation Extinction of an obligation through the creation of a new one which substitutes it; never
presumed
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 a One which contains an accessory undertaking to pay a previously stipulated indemnity in
penal clause case of breach
Ordinary fortuitous Those events which are common and which the contracting parties could reasonably
events foresee
Partial Compensation When two obligations are of different amounts and a balance remains
Partial Condonation Does not cover the entire obligation
Partial or modificatory When the old obligation is merely modified
novation
Passive Solidarity Solidarity on the part of the debtors, where any one of them can be 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 cession The assignment or abandonment of all the preoperties of the debtor 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
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 Obligation The subject matter is an act to be done or not to be done.
Personal or subjective When the person of the debtor is substituted and/or when a third person is subrogated in
novation the rights of the creditor
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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 Condition The condition depends upon the will of one of the contracting parties
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 Obligation One which can stand by itself and does not depend for its validity and existence upon
another obligation
Punitive Penal Clause When the penalty is imposed merely as punishment for breach
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 Division One based on quality, not on number or quantity of the things which are the object of the
obligation
Quantitative Division One based on quantity rather than on quality
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.
Real or objective When the object (or cause) or principal conditions of the obligation are changed
novation
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 Bilateral Those which arise from the same cause and in which each party is a debtor and a
Obligation creditor of the other, such that the performance of one 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 Condition One the fulfillment of which will extinguish an obligation (or right) 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 other consumable
mutuum thing, upon the condition that the same amount of the same kind and quality shall be
paid
Simple Obligation There is only one prestation
Solidary Obligation One where each one of the debtors is bound to render, and/or each 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 or physically
Determinate 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 Condition One the fulfillment of which will give rise to an obligation (or right); the demandability of
(Condition precedent the obligation is suspended until the happening of the uncertain event which constitutes
or condition the condition
antecedent)
Tender of payment The act on the part of the debtor, of offering to the creditor the thing or amount due.
Total Compensation When both obligations are of the same amount and are entirely extinguished
Total or extinctive When the old obligation is completely extinguished
novation
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Unilateral Obligation When only one party is obliged to comply with a prestation
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.