Chapter 2: Essential Requisites of Contracts

Question 1

Article 1318

Answer 1

There is no contract unless the following requisites concur:
(1) Consent of the contracting parties;
(2) Object certain which is the subject matter
of the contract;
(3) Cause of the obligation which is estab- lished.

Question 2

Classes of elements of a contract.

Answer 2

(1) Essential elements or those without which no contract can validly exist regardless of the intentions of the parties. They are also known as requisites of a contract. They may be subdivided:
into:
(a) common or those present in all contracts, namely, consent, object, and cause (Art. 1318.); and
(b) special or those not common to all contracts or those which must be present only in, or peculiar to, certain specified contracts, and such peculiarity may be:
1) as regards to form, as for example, public instrument in donation of immovable property (Art.749.), delivery in real contracts (Art. 1316.), registration in real estate mortgage’ (Art. 2125.), chattel mortgage (Art. 2140.), etc.; or
2)
as regards the subject matter, as for example, real property in antichresis (Art. 2132.), personal property in pledge (Art. 2094.), etc.; or
3)
as regards the consideration or cause, as for example; price in sale (Art. 1458.) and in lease (Arts. 1643, 1641.), liberality in commodatum (Art. 1935.), etc.
A valid contract is one that manifests all the essential elements of a contract.
(2) Natural elements or those that are presumed to exist in certain contracts unless the contrary is expressly stipulated by the parties, like warranty against eviction (Art. 1548.), or warranty against hidden defects in sale (Art. 1561.); and
(3) Accidental elements or the particular stipulations, clauses, terms, or conditions established by the parties in their contract (Art. 1306.), like conditions, period, interest, penalty, etc., and, therefore, they exist only when they are expressly provided by the parties.