OBLICON LECTURE: NATURE AND EFFECT OF OBLIGATIONS PART 2 (ART. 1164-1166 OF THE NEW CIVIL CODE)

Article 1165, paragraph 3, provides exceptions where a debtor is responsible for fortuitous events: when the debtor delays delivery or has promised to deliver the same specific thing to two or more persons with different interests. In these cases, the debtor is not exempt from liability even if a fortuitous event occurs.

The video begins by discussing Article 1165 of the Civil Code, which outlines the rights of a creditor when a determinate or indeterminate thing is to be delivered. It highlights the creditor's right to compel delivery for determinate things and to have the obligation complied with at the debtor's expense for indeterminate or generic things.

For specific real obligations (determinate things), the creditor has three remedies: demand specific performance with damages, demand rescission of the obligation with damages, or demand payment of damages only if it's the only feasible remedy. It's crucial that the specific thing itself must be delivered and cannot be substituted without the creditor's consent.

The creditor has the right to compel the debtor to make the delivery, but this does not imply force. The creditor must bring the matter to court to order the delivery. The video clarifies that specific performance cannot be combined with rescission, as they are contradictory.

The principle 'genus never perishes' applies to generic things. If a generic thing is lost due to a fortuitous event, the obligation is not extinguished because another item of the same kind and quality can be delivered. This contrasts with specific things, where loss may extinguish the obligation under certain circumstances.

Article 1166 states that the obligation to deliver a determinate thing includes all its accessions and accessories, even if not explicitly mentioned. Accessions are fruits or improvements to the principal thing, while accessories are things joined to or included with the principal thing for its embellishment, better use, or completion.

Accessions are not necessary for the principal thing to exist, while accessories are needed by the principal thing and typically go together (e.g., a cell phone and its battery). The general rule is that accessions and accessories are included in the delivery of a determinate thing, unless there is an express stipulation to exclude them due to the principle that 'the accessory follows the principal'.

In generic real obligations (indeterminate things), specific performance is not applicable. The creditor's remedy is to ask a third person to fulfill the obligation at the expense of the original debtor. The creditor also has the right to recover damages.