Accessions and Accessories 1. Accessions – fruits of a thing or additions to or improvements upon a thing (the principal). 2. Accessories – things joined to or included with the principal thing for the latter’s embellishment, better use, or completion. Accessions are not necessary to the principal thing. Accessory and the principal thing must go together. Both can exist in relation to the principal. All accessions and accessories are considered included in the obligation to deliver a determinate thing although they may not have been mentioned. Meaning of Delay 1. Ordinary delay – is merely the failure to perform an obligation on time. 2. Legal delay (default/ mora) – is the failure to perform an obligation on time which failure constitutes a breach of the obligation. Kinds of Delay or Default 1. Mora solvendi – the delay on the part of the debtor to fulfill his obligation (to give or to do) 2. Mora accipiendi – the delay on the part of the creditor to accept the performance of the obligation 3. Compensatio morae – the delay of the obligors in reciprocal obligations- the delay of the obligor cancels the delay of the obligee, and vice versa. The net result is that there is no actionable default on the part of both parties. When demand is not necessary to put debtor in delay Delay by the debtor begins only from the moment of demand, judicial or extra-judicial, for the fulfillmentof the former’s obligation is made by the creditor. Without such amount, the effect of default will not rise. Exceptions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
When the obligation so provides When the law so provides When time is of the essence When demand would be useless When there is performance by a party in reciprocal obligations
Grounds for liability 1. 2. 3. 4.
Fraud (deceit or dolo) Negligence (fault or culpa) Delay (default or mora) Contravention of the terms of the obligation
Fraud (deceit or dolo) It is the deliberate or intentional evasion of the normal fulfilment of an obligation. 1. Incidental fraud (dolo incidente) – refers to committed in the performance of an obligation already existing because of contract. 2. Casual fraud (dolo causante) – refers to fraud employed in the execution o a contract under Art. 1338, which vitiates consent. Negligence (fault or culpa) It consists in the omission of that diligence which is required by the nature of the obligation and corresponds with the circumstances of the person, of the time and of the place. In determining the issue of negligence, the following factors must be considered: 1. Nature of the obligation 2. Circumstances of time 3. Circumstances of the place Kinds of negligence according to source of obligation 1. Contractual negligence (culpa contractual) – negligence in contracts resulting in their breach. 2. Civil negligence (culpa aquiliana) – negligence which by itself is the source of an obligation between the parties not so related before by any pre-existing contract. It is also called tort or quasi-delict. 3. Criminal negligence (culpa criminal) – negligence resulting in the commission of a crime.
