Examples of Civil Obligations and Natural Obligations

The field of law has dealt heavily with the obligations, since basically the social structure of regulation and sanction in pursuit of a healthy coexistence seems to be a precise balance between the solidary attitude and the obligation.

In this order of things, the obligations they can be civil or natural according to their condition and to the subjection they have to the Law: those of which their non-compliance may motivate an action through the legal means will be civil, at the time that will be natural obligations those that do not have a legal basis, not being able to exercise direct action through the Law to force their compliance. For example: a deposit contract, a gambling debt.

What are the civil obligations and natural obligations?

In this order of things, the civil obligation is easy to be interpreted and understood: in effect, they are those that arise from laws or contraventions, of which no Ignorance can be accused and those that have a function in pursuit of the balance or social contract that has been explained before.

Regarding the natural obligations, the question is something else complex: although it lacks action legal To be required, due to its characteristics it should not be confused with a simple moral duty, insofar as it does produce a series of legal effects (Effects of natural obligations).

The most common is the principle of withholding of what is paid, that is, the creditor's power to retain what the debtor has spontaneously paid. In addition, a natural obligation can be opposed to the creditor who requires compliance with a civil obligation, and on the other hand it can be converted from natural to civil by means of the so-called ‘Novation’. Sometimes, these natural obligations are guaranteed by means of the constitution of a pledge or mortgage right.

Most of the Civil Codes establish particularities regarding the differences between the classes of natural obligations and civil obligations. It is usual that the cases of civil obligations are listed, being frequent to find there:

Next, ten classes of civil obligations and five of a natural type will be listed, in order to illustrate with greater precision the scope of each one of them.

Examples of Civil Obligations

1. Pay damages in case of causing damage to someone else's property.
2. A deposit agreement.
3. A restraining order.
4. The obligations that arise from marriage.
5. Comply with what is stipulated in a contract.
6. Pay the copyright in the appropriate cases.
7. The prohibition of smoking in certain places.
8. The obligations of a father to his children.
9. Those born from divorce.
10. The prohibition of parking in a certain place.

Examples of Natural Obligations

1. A minor who lends money to another.
2. A gambling debt.
3. Opposition of debts in compensation, from a debt not formally constituted.
4. A madman who buys a product without being at its full capacity.
5. Payment of a debt without obligation, having believed to be obliged to pay it.