Name: Diana Marie P.
Datu
Topic: Indivisible Obligation
Indivisible Obligation
- Is one the object of which, in its delivery or performance, is not capable of partial
fulfillment
EXAMPLE:
S obliged himself to deliver to B a specific car on November 15. This Obligation is
indivisible because it is not capable of partial performance. The car must be delivered at one
time as and as a whole (not partially)
Kinds of Division:
1. Qualitative Division
-based on quality, not on numbers or quantity of the things which are the object of the
obligation
EXAMPLE:
A and B are the heirs of C. They agreed to divide their inheritance as follows: A-House and
lot and home appliances and to B- rice field, car and P10,000 cash.
2. Quantitative Division
-based on quantity rather than quality
EXAMPLE:
In the preceding example, if A and B divide the 300 cavans of palay harvested from the
rice fields, or the P10,000 cash.
3. Ideal or Intellectual division
-exists only in the minds of the parties
EXAMPLE:
Suppose the car and the rice fields, in the first example, were inherited by both A and B.
As co-owners, their one-half shares in the car are not separable in a material way but mentally.
Kinds of Indivisibility:
1. Legal Indivisibility
- A specific provision of law declares as indivisible, obligations which, by their nature,
are divisible.
-Even though the object or service may be physically divisible, an obligation is
indivisible if so provided by law.
2. Conventional Indivisibility
- The will of the parties makes as indivisible, obligations which, by their nature, are
divisible.
-In controlling whether an obligation is divisible or not, the controlling circumstances
is not the possibility or impossibility of partial prestation but the purpose of the
obligation or the intention of parties.
3. Natural Indivisibility
-The nature of the object or prestation does not admit of division e.g., to give a
particular car, to sing a song, etc.
-The obligation are considered to be absolute
Article 1224. A joint indivisible obligation gives the rise to indemnity for damages from
the time anyone of the debtors does not comply with his undertaking. The debtors who may
have been ready to fulfil their promises shall not contribute to the indemnity beyond the
corresponding portion of the price of the thing or of the value of the service in which the
obligation consists.
Effect of non-compliance by a debtor in a joint indivisible obligation
– The obligation will be turned into one for damages (i.e., to pay money). The creditor cannot
demand specific performance or rescission because there is no cause of action against the
other debtors who are willing to fulfil their promises.
Article 1225. For the purposes of the preceding articles, obligations to give definite things
and those which are not susceptible of partial performance shall be deemed to be indivisible.
When the obligation has for its object the execution of a certain number of days of work,
the accomplishment of work by metrical units, or analogous things which by their nature are
susceptible of partial performance, it shall be divisible.
However, even though the object or service may be physically divisible, an obligation is
indivisible if so provided by law or intended by the parties.
In obligations not to do, divisibility or indivisibility shall be determined by the character
of the prestation in each particular case.
Obligations Deemed Indivisible
1. Obligation to give definite things
EXAMPLE:
To give particular electric fan; to deliver a specific house
-The obligation is indivisible because of the nature of the subject matter
2. Obligation which are not susceptible of partial fulfillment
EXAMPLE:
To sing a song; to dance the tinikling
-obligation is indivisible by reason of its purpose which requires the performance of all parts.
3. Obligations provided by law to be indivisible even if things or service is physically
divisible
EXAMPLE:
Under the law, taxes should be paid within a definite period. Although money is physically
divisible, the amount of tax payable must be delivered in toto, not partially
4. Obligations intended by the parties to be indivisible even if thing or services is
physically divisible
EXAMPLE:
The obligation of D to give P1,000 to C on a certain date. Money is physically divisible
but the clear intention here is for D to deliver 1,000 at one time and as a whole.
