Contracts Flashcards
Contract
A contract is meeting of minds between two persons whereby one binds himself, with respect to the other, to give something or to render some service.
Ways to terminate contract
- Termination by stipulation of parties
- Termination, by stipulation, at option of one party
- Termination by one party with conformity of the other
- Suspension of contract by government agency
Termination v. rescindment of contract
Rescind - to declare a contract void in its inception and to put an end to it as though it never were
Termination - there is still enforcement of its terms prior to the declaration of cancellation
Characteristics of contracts
- Freedom or autonomy of contracts
- parties may establish such stipulations, clauses, terms, and conditions as they may deem convenient, provided, they are not contrary to law, morals, good customs, public order, and public policy. - Obligatoriness of contracts (obligatory force)
- obligations arising from contracts have the force of law between the contracting parties and should be complied with in good faith - Mutuality of contracts
- contracts must bind both and not one of the contracting parties - Consensuality of contracts**
- contracts are perfected, as a general rule, by mere consent, and from that moment the parties are bound not only by the fulfillment of what has been expressly stipulated but also to all the consequences which, according to their nature, may be in keeping with good faith, usage and law - Relativity of contracts
- contracts take effect only between the parties, their assigns and heirs, except in cases where the rights and obligations arising from the contract are not transmissible by their nature, or by stipulation, or by provision of law
Classifications of contract
- According to name or designation
a. nominate
b. innominate - According to perfection
a. consensual - that which is perfected by mere consent
b. real - that which is perfected, in addition to the above, by the delivery of the thing subject matter of the contract
c. solemn - that which requires compliance with certain formalities prescribed by law such prescribed form being thereby an essential element thereof - According to cause
a. onerous
b. remuneratory or remunerative
c. gratuitous - According to form
a. informal or common
b. formal, solemn, simple, or special - According to obligatory force
a. valid
b. rescissible
c. voidable
d. unenforceable
e. void or inexistent - According to person obliged; according to their nature of the vinculum which they produce
a. unilateral
b. bilateral - According to dependence to another contract
a. preparatory - when it is entered into as a means to an end
b. accessory - when it is dependent upon another contracts it secures or guarantees for its existence and validity
c. principal - when it does not depend for its existence and validity upon another contract but is an indispensable condition for the existence of an accessory contract - According to status
a. executory
b. executed - According to dependence of part of contract to other parts
a. indivisible - when each part is dependent upon the other parts for satisfactory performance
b. divisible - According to risks
a. commutative - when the undertaking of one party is considered the equivalent of that of the other
b. aleatory - when it depends upon an uncertain event or contingency both as to benefit or loss - According to liability
a. unilateral
b. bilateral - According to their purpose
a. transfer of ownership
b. conveyance of use
c. rendition of service - According to their subject matter
a. things
b. services
Limitations on contractual stipulations
- Law
2. Police power
Law
a rule of conduct, just, obligatory, promulgated by legitimate authority, and of common observance and benefit
Morals
norms of good and right conduct evolved in a community
Customs
habits and practices which through long usage have been followed and enforced by society or some part of it as binding rules of conduct
Public order
public safety or public weal
Public policy
principle under which no subject or citizen can lawfully do that which has a tendency to be injurious to the public or against the public good which may be termed the “policy of the law” or “public policy in relation to the administration of the law.”
or
principle under which freedom of contract or private dealing is restricted for the good of the community
Kinds of innominate contract
- do ut des (I give that you may give)
- do ut facias (I give that you may do)
- facio ut des (I do that you may give)
- facio ut facias (I do that you may do)
Rules governing innominate contracts
- the agreement of the parties
- the provisions of the Civil Code on obligations and contracts
- the rules governing the most analogous contracts
- the customs of the place
Principle of relativity of contracts
As a general rule, contracts can only bind the parties (then assigns and heirs) who entered into it and cannot favor or prejudice a third party even if he is aware of such contract and has acted with knowledge.
Cases wherein a third person may be affected by a contract
a. In contracts containing a stipulation in favor of a third person
b. In contracts creating real rights
c. In contracts entered into to defraud creditors
d. In contracts which have been violated at the inducement of the third person
e. In contracts creating ‘status’ (ex: marriage - strangers must respect the contract in force)
f. In the quasi-contract or negotiorum gestio, the owner is bound in a proper case, by contracts entered into by the “gestor” or unauthorized manager
g. In “collective contracts” where the majority rules over the minority
h. Where the situation contemplated in Art. 1729 obtains
Stipulation pour autrui
a stipulation in a contract clearly and deliberately conferring a favor upon a third person who has a right to demand its fulfillment, provided he communicates his acceptance to the obligor before its revocation by the obligee or the original parties
Requisites of stipulation pour autrui
- The contracting parties by their stipulation must have clearly and deliberately conferred (not merely incidental) a favor upon a third person
- The stipulation in favor of the third person should be a part and not the whole of the contract or the contract himself
- The third person must have communicated his acceptance to the obligor before its revocation by the obligee or the original parties
- The favorable stipulation should not be conditioned or compensated by any kind of obligation whatsoever
- Neither of the contracting parties bears the legal representation or authorization of the third party for otherwise the rules on agency will apply
Nature and form of acceptance of stipulation pour autrui
- The acceptance must be unconditional
2. Acceptance does not have to be in any particular form
Stages in the life of a contract
- Preparation or negotiation or generation - interest
- Perfection or birth - consent
- Consummation or termination or death - fulfillment
Effect of perfection of the contract
They are bound not only
- to the fulfillment of what has been express;y stipulated but also
- to all the consequences which according to their nature, may be in keeping with good faith, usage, and law
Cure for unauthorized contracts
Ratification
In order that a person may be bound by the contract of another, there are 2 requisites
- The person entering into the contract must be duly authorized, expressly or impliedly, by the person in whose name he contracts or he must have, by law, a right to represent him
- He must act within his power
Requisites of a contract
- Consent of the contracting parties
- Object certain which is the subject matter of the contract
- Cause of the obligation which is established
Consent
conformity of wills or the agreement of the will of one contracting party with that of another or others, upon the object and cause of the contract
Offer
proposal made by one party to another to enter into a contract
Acceptance
manifestation by the offeree of his assent to the terms of the offer
Form of acceptance of offer
- Acceptance by promise
- Acceptance by act
- Acceptance by silence or inaction
Grounds for ineffectivity of offer
Art. 1323
a. death
b. civil interdiction
c. insanity
d. insolvency
* not exclusive
Who are not allowed to give consent to a contract?
- unemancipated minors
- insane or demented persons, and deaf-mutes who do not know how to write
- not exclusive. other examples:
a. persons suffering the accessory penalty of civil interdiction
b. hospitalized lepers
c. prodigals
d. deaf and dumb who are unable to read and write
e. those who are of unsound mind even though they have lucid intervals
f. those who, by reason of age, disease, weak mind and other similar causes. cannot without outside aid, take care of themselves and manage their property, becoming thereby an easy prey for deceit and exploitation
g. insolvents until discharged
h. married women in cases specified by law
i. husband and wife with respect to sale of property of each other or donation of property to each other
j. other persons disqualified by law - may exceptions
1. When necessaries such as food, are sold and delivered to a minor or other person without capacity to act, he must pay a reasonable price therefor.
2. A minor may contract for life, health and accident insurance, provided the insurance is taken on his life and the beneficiary appointed is the minor’s estate or the minor’s father, mother, spouse, brother, or sister.
3. A contract is valid if entered into through a guardian or legal representative
4. A contract is valid where the minor who was near majority age misrepresented his actual age and convincingly led the other party to believe in his legal capacity
5. A contract is valid where a minor between 18 and 21 years of age voluntarily pays a sum of money or delivers a fungible thing in fulfillment of his obligation thereunder and the obligee has spent or consumed it in good faith
6. Emancipation of a minor for any cause
Lucid interval
temporary period of sanity
Is weakness of mind a ground for avoiding a contract?
Only when there is “great weakness of mind in a person executing a conveyance of land arising from age, sickness or any other cause”
Characteristics of consent
- intelligent
- free and voluntary
- conscious or spontaneous
Causes that vitiate consent
- error or mistake
- violence or force
- intimidation or threat or duress
- undue influence
- fraud or deceit
Mistake or error
false notion of a thing or a fact material to the contract
In order that mistake may vitiate consent, it must refer to…
- the substance of the thing which is the object of the contract
- those conditions which have principally moved one or both parties to enter into the contract
- the identity or qualifications of one of the parties, provided, the same was the principal cause of the contract
Mistake of law
arises from an ignorance of some provisions of law, or from an erroneous interpretation of its meaning, or from an erroneous conclusion as to the legal effect of an agreement, on the part of one of the parties
Requisites for the application of Art. 1334
“Mutual error as to the legal effect of an agreement when the real purpose of the parties is frustrated, may vitiate consent.”
- the error must be mutual
- it must be so as to the legal effect of an agreement
- it must frustrate the real purpose of the parties
Nature of violence or force to vitiate consent
Requires the employment of physical force
Nature of intimidation or threat to vitiate consent
- it must produce a reasonable and well-grounded fear of an evil
- the evil must be imminent and grave
- the evil must be upon his person or property, or that of his spouse, descendants, or ascendants
- it is the reason why he enters into the contract