Understanding Obligatory Relationships: Structure and Benefits

Posted on Mar 10, 2025 in Law & Jurisprudence

Structure of the Relationship

The obligatory relationship has three essential elements:

  1. Right to Credit: This represents the creditor’s right to demand specific actions from the debtor. It’s the active side, focusing on the debtor’s performance or the consequences of non-compliance.
  2. Debt: This is the debtor’s legal duty to act in the creditor’s interest, aligning with the agreed-upon performance. The debtor’s role includes responsibilities like preservation and acting in good faith.
  3. Responsibility: This refers to the debtor’s liability for breaches, leading to universal financial responsibility. It arises from non-compliance attributable to the debtor, unless exonerating circumstances exist. Consequences vary based on the type of violation.

The creditor’s right allows for specific financial compensations from the debtor, if materially and legally possible, or a monetary equivalent, along with damage compensation. The debtor’s universal responsibility can be reinforced through guarantees or sureties.

The Benefit (Performance)

Concept: The performance is the behavior the debtor must execute for the creditor, according to the agreed-upon plan, at the specified time and place. This can involve:

  • Giving a thing or a good: Transferring property or granting usage rights.
  • Doing: Performing an act in favor of the creditor.
  • Not doing: Abstaining from exercising specific powers.

Complex performances may combine these elements, forming a single unit. The performance must be lawful, possible, and certain to be effective and satisfy the creditor’s interest.

Requirements of Lawfulness, Possibility, and Certainty

  1. Lawfulness: The performance must comply with the law, morality, and public order. Contracts cannot involve illegal or immoral subjects.
  2. Possibility: The performance must be possible. Impossibility can be original or subsequent, absolute or partial. Only original, absolute impossibility invalidates the obligation.
  3. Certainty: The performance must be determined at the obligation’s inception, ensuring both parties understand their rights and duties.