Understanding Obligations and Rights in Legal Bonds

Obligations and Rights

A person (the debtor) has bought an item and has not yet paid the seller (the creditor).

An obligation is a legal bond that links two or more people. At least one of them, known as the debtor, is subject to performing a benefit for another, called the creditor.

The obligation and the right to credit represent two sides of the same reality.

Content of the Obligational Relationship

The debtor and creditor are united by a bond that is composed of two elements: debit and responsibility.

• Debit: This requires the debtor to perform a benefit, which the creditor can demand to fulfill a legitimate interest under their credit right. Debit must be accompanied by responsibility.
• Responsibility: This has a patrimonial character; it is a satisfaction guarantee for the creditor's credit rights and an essential element of the obligational link.

Types of Obligations

• Positive and Negative Obligations:
  • Positive obligations involve giving something or doing something.
  • Negative obligations require the debtor to refrain from certain specified conduct.
• Single and Successive Obligations (Tract):
  • Single tract obligations are met once; once satisfied, they are extinguished.
  • Successive tract obligations are met repeatedly; the successive acts reinforce them, rather than extinguish them.
• Divisible and Indivisible Obligations:
  • Divisible obligations are those where compliance can be split into several parts.
  • Indivisible obligations must be fulfilled at once.
• Pure and Conditional Obligations:
  • Conditional obligations are those whose fulfillment depends on an uncertain future or past event that the stakeholders are unaware of.
  • Pure obligations are those whose fulfillment does not depend on an event outside the relationship between the bound parties.
• Specific and Generic Obligations:
  • Specific obligations are those where the object is delineated and individualized.
  • Generic obligations fall on an object that has a defined class or gender, but no specific, individual characteristics.
• Unilateral and Bilateral Obligations:
  • Unilateral obligations create a debit for only one party.
  • Bilateral obligations create mutual debts for both parties involved.
• Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Obligations:
  • Pecuniary obligations are those where the debtor's benefit is to deliver a certain amount of money.
  • Non-pecuniary obligations are satisfied by a provision that does not involve the delivery of money.
• Principal and Accessory Obligations:
  • Principal obligations can exist independently.
  • Accessory obligations are always coupled with another obligation having the principal character.
• Joint and Several Obligations:
  • In several obligations, the creditor can only demand the total credit from any co-debtors.
  • In joint obligations, each creditor may require the debtor only the part of the credit that has been applied.