Law of Obligations - Case Study Example

An obligation is a juridical necessity to give, to do or not to do.” This is according to the Civil Articles 1156 to 1304. An obligation is a responsibility of achieving terms of contract legally. It is a necessity to give or to render something in accordance with the law. It is a legal agreement or a promise which one is required to follow. Based on its various definitions, several words are somehow synonymous with each other such as responsibility, agreement, necessity and promise. Law of Obligations was originated from the Roman law which means “Legal Bond”. Contract Law is one of the branches of this law. The Law of Obligations and Contracts deals with the obligations, rights and duties concerning with agreements and contracts. Public law is a set of discipline empowering by public bodies which include government departments, local authorities and many more. We can say that this law deals with the state. Examples of this law are these two: tax law and criminal law. Assault, fraud, murder and theft are just four of the examples of crimes. I have read news published on April 5, 2010 by someone not mentioned. He gave an example of a crime happened during the 19th century which was a test of necessity. The Mignonette sank and the three crew members and Richard Parker, a young cabin boy were trapped in a raft. The young cabin boy was closed to death. Due to hunger, the crew killed and ate the poor young boy. The crew survived and were rescued but put on trial for murder. They argued that it was necessary to kill the sick young cabin boy for them to survive. The crew members were sentence to death but many complained that it was just right to preserve their lives. At first they were sentenced to hang but many people are in favor of them. Those people agreed that it is right to preserve lives though it means killing one. In the end, they were only sentenced to six months to jail. It was right to save lives, but saving lives doesn’t mean killing one. It was so sad to think that the crew members agreed to kill the 17 year old cabin boy and ate his flesh just to survive from hunger. They did not even think of other ways on how to survive on this situation. Maybe they thought that this child will just soon die so they decided to kill him. They did not even think that this child may survive from the sickness. It did not come to their minds that it would be happier if all of them will survive with the help of each other. Instead of killing him, they must suppose to offer some comfort to the child. They think that it was just fine with the law to kill one to save three. But unfortunately they were wrong. They were still accused of murder and sentenced to imprisonment. I just don’t understand why there are people who considered what they did. These people supported the statement of the crew members without thinking of the cabin boy; without putting their selves in the place of the cabin boy’s parents and relatives. They did not even think that what if they were the parents of the cabin boy, would they agree with the crew members of what they have done? Of course not! The only good thing that happened somehow was that, these three crew members were still punished by the law. Obligation to respect implements international human right and international humanitarian law as provided under respective bodies of law. States will ensure that their domestic law is consistent with their international obligations by ensuring that their domestic law provides protection for victims as required by international obligations. They will provide procedures and other important measures that provide fair justice to everyone. They will incorporate human rights law into their domestic law. The obligation to respect ensures respect by implementing international human rights law under respective bodies of law. There are several duties involving this matter. Providing those who claim that they were victims equal and fair justice is one. It is also important to investigate to conduct accurate and fair investigation to help support the victims. Another duty is to provide effective remedies to the victims including reparation. Civil obligation gives the creditor the right to impose their performance in Courts of Justice. Natural obligations are based on equity and natural law. Its perception is based on “doing good and avoiding evil” (the first law of moral conduct – 1 Peter 3:10-12). There are two kinds of obligation according to subject matter: Real obligation and Personal obligation. Real obligation refers to the obligation to give while Personal obligation refers to obligation to do or not to do. In Real obligation, the subject matter is a thing which is needed to be delivered by person A to person B. For example, person A is having a business of a purified water refilling station, and he is offering a free delivery for those who will take an order of more than 2 gallons, therefore, if person B orders 3 gallons and he requests delivery, person A is of course required to deliver the order. Personal obligation has two types: Positive personal obligation and Negative personal obligation. Positive personal obligation is an obligation to render service, while Negative personal obligation is an obligation of “not to do”. Given the example, Person A purchased a laptop from person B with one year service warranty, and the product had an internal error in less than a year from date of purchase, of course person B has a duty to render service to person A because they had an agreement to be followed. Here is a good example of Negative personal obligation. Person A wanted to build a fence surrounding his house. In favor of person B, person A will not build a fence on a certain portion of his lot because person B is entitled to a Right of Way. There are several sources of obligations. These are the following: Law, Contracts, Quasi-Contracts, a Crimes or acts or omissions punished by law and Quasi-delicts or torts. Law is a set of rules being implemented by everyone. An example of this is an Obligation of paying taxes and an obligation to support one’s family. Paying tax is everybody’s responsibility especially those who have a good source of income and those who have businesses and properties. A personal income tax is levied based on the total income of an individual. Some are entitled with tax exemptions depending on the number of dependents and some other considerations. The taxes being paid by us are used by the government in their different programs and services that will also benefit the people. On May 5, 2010, Mike Moody, a US Entertainment Reporter wrote about Katt Williams, a popular comedian, who owes more than $280,000 for not paying the taxes due to him. The Internal Revenue Service filed a demand against him. But then William’s manager informed everyone that William will settle everything. This is just an example that we really need to do our part as citizens of our own country. Although we are getting so busy sometimes, it is important to keep in mind our duties and responsibilities. Being a responsible citizen, it is our obligation to be aware of what our duties are. Everybody knows that unsettled obligation is punishable by law. Also, we have a saying that, “Ignorance of the law excuses no man”. No matter whom the person is, whether he is famous and influential or not, whether he may be the President of the largest organization or he may just be an ordinary one, it is our duty to pay our taxes for the benefit not only of our own selves but for the advantage of the majority. Contracts are agreement between two or more parties. According to Sir John William Salmond, legal scholar, public servant and judge in New Zealand, “contracts are agreement creating and defining the obligations between two or more parties”. An obligation to pay debts and loans is an example of this. An agreement is always associated with contracts. If person A borrowed money from person B for the reason that he will use the money to pay the tuition fee of his child and promised to pay at a given time, whether he has the money or not, before the given time arrives, he must find a way on how to pay for it. Everything written on the agreement must be followed. A Quasi-contract is an obligation to return money paid by mistake, while the obligation of a thief to return to the owner anything stolen by him is an example of Crimes or acts or omissions punished by law. Negotiorum gestio and Solutio indebiti are kinds of quasi-contracts. Negotiorum gestio is the management of properties owned by someone else without the consent and permission of the owner. For example, Person A owned a business. He decided to visit some relatives out of the country. He left his business for more than a month leaving everything to the vice president of his company. Without the owner and the vice president’s knowledge, person B who is his cousin took charge of his position and manages the business without any consent. Solutio indebiti is a juridical relation which happened when something is received but delivered by mistake. In other words, the person received something which is not for him. Let me cite and example for this. Family A and Family B are living in one neighborhood. Family A ordered an appliance that will be delivered in their address and had a payment using a credit card. During the purchase, Family A instructed the delivery personnel to deliver it in Block 154 instead of 164. So the appliance was delivered in the given address which is the address of family B. Although family B did not order the thing, they still received the item by surprise which they did not suppose to do. After a day, family contacted the store and discovered that it was delivered in a wrong address. The second family must not receive the item though they know that it was just delivered by mistake. It is not right to take advantage of everything. We must learn how to consider other’s happiness. Being faithful all the time will help improve ourselves and even our place. And also we must always place our feet on the shoes of others so we will have an understanding of not doing bad things to our neighbors. The requisite of Solutio indebiti is that, there is no right to receive the product delivered because the thing was delivered by mistake. However, here is an example of Quasi-delics or torts: There was a family strolling in a store. Their 5 year old child accidentally hit displays of bottled sodas. Though it was just an accident, the parents are obliged to pay for the damages their son has caused. Quasi-delicts or torts happen when they arise from damages caused of negligence. There is no contractual relation between both parties prior to the incident. Before a person can be held liable for quasi-delict, here are the following requisites to be considered. (1) There must be an act (2) there is no existing contract between the parties (3) there must be fault or negligence (4) there must be damaged caused and (5) there must be a direct relation of cause and effect between the act and the damage. A breach of contract happens when the binding agreement was not honored by one or more parties. An employee working in a specific company can be sued for breach of contract by the employer when he suddenly did not appear to work consecutive times without further notice. Before an employee could even start working in a company after being hired, a contract will be signed by him. The contract contains the agreement between him and the employer. This includes the terms and conditions being practiced by everyone in the company. If one of the parties, either the employee or employer did not honor the agreement, he can be sued for breach of contract. Example of this is an employee who signed a one year contract of working within the company can be sued for leaving having unfinished contract and transferring to another company which offers higher salary. On the other hand, an employer can be sued for not paying his employee the agreed amount of compensation. Dan Cypra, writer of Poker News Daily wrote news about breach of contract on the 4th of April 2010. Ultra Internet Media, parent company of Everest Poker filed a case breach of contract against Harrah. According to the article that appeared in Las Vegas newspaper that Everest Poker is in the last year of $22.5 agreement that will be used in sponsoring the annual tournament series in Las Vegas. RTL9, a French Television Station displayed logos of USA-facing site Full Tilt Poker WSOP instead of the Everest Poker. According to the Sun and the lawsuit filed last week, “Harrah’s and ESPN agreed to control their affiliate, RTL9, and require RTL9 to cease causing violations of the agreement during its broadcasts and transmissions into France.” There are several remedies whenever there is a breach. First is Compensatory Damages. A sum of money will be given to the person as payment for the damages caused to him by another. Second is Consequential and Incidental Damages, known as special damages, involves potential losses. For example, if a person was injured because of an automobile accident, the victim has all the rights to seek for all the damages including medical expenses, damage of the motor vehicle and even the loss of earnings because the victim cannot work due to physical damage. Third is Attorney Fees and Costs which are only recoverable if it is stated in the agreement. If an attorney’s fees are not included, each party will bear the cost of his or her attorney’s expenses. Fourth are the Liquidated Damages. Damages can be considered liquidated when the damages are not capable of ascertained by any rule and when it is clear that the damage is subject for actual calculation and adjustment. Next is the Order of Specific Performance which is an order of the court requiring the party to perform specific act which is usually included in the agreement. Since it is an order of the court, it is supported by the enforcement power of the court. Another is Punitive Damages, also known as exemplary damages which has a purpose of punishing and deterring a defendant from committing similar acts in the future. Punitive Damages may only be awarded if the defendant’s conduct was malicious. Conduct is malicious if it has the purpose of injuring others. Next is Rescission. It is the cancellation of contract between parties. It may occur as a result of mutual mistake or lack of legal capacity. Here is an example: person A wanted to sell his house and lot and person B agreed to buy it. Later on, person A found out that the title of the land is not with him, so the agreement will be withdrawn by both parties. This is what we called rescission. Lastly, we have the Reformation. It is a remedy wherein the court revises any written agreement to what both parties agreed upon. Reformation is more likely to happen when the parties’ agreement do not conform to each other’s understanding. An example of this is an agreement of selling 3 acres of land but the actual land to be sold is 2.5 acres only. Reformation will be needed in order to correct wrong information on the agreement. Works Cited “Law of Obligation and Contracts” glennavendano.com. n.d. Web. 12 May 2010. "Obligation." Investopedia.com. Investopedia Inc. 10 May. 2010. . “Examples of Criminal Law Cases: 19th Century England” sandiegolawguide.com. n.d. Web. 12 May 2010. Moody, Mike. “Katt Williams owes upaid tax bill”. Digitalspy.co.uk. 5 May 2010. Web. 12 May 2010. “Contract Law”. Law.freeadvice.com. n.d. Web. 13 May 2010 Cypra, Dan. “Everest Poker Sues WSOP Alleging Breach of Contract”. Pokernewsdaily.com. 4 April 2010. Web. 13 May 2010. Read More