At the end of the presentation, the

participants will be able to:

 identify objects of a contract
 discuss the conditions when things or
services are considered as objects of a
contract
 discuss the different causes of contracts
Objectof Contracts
Cause of Contracts
• All things which are within the commerce of
man including future things having potential
existence.
• Rights that are transmissible (e.g., right to
possess a real property) may be the object of a
contract.
• Services must not be contrary to law, morals,
good customs, public order or public policy
(e.g., services of an assassin).
Outside the commerce of man
It has been held that a municipal council
cannot sell or lease public property, such as
plazas, streets, common lands, rivers, bridges,
etc. because they are outside the commerce of
man, and if it is done so by leasing part of the
plaza the lease is null and void, for it is contrary
to law, and the thing leased cannot be the object
of a contract.
Things having potential existence
 are those which are sure to come barring
only unforseen events although not yet
possessed.

Example: mangoes from existing mango

trees for the coming season; grains that
may be harvested from a definite area of
rice land
Intransmissible rights and services
Rights which are intransmissible cannot be
the object of contract because they are either too
personal to the parties or are not permitted by
law to be the object of a contract (e.g., right to
vote).
For service however to be a valid object, it
must be physically and legally possible as it is
not contrary to law, morals, good customs,
public order and public policy.
Future inheritance
A contract involving future inheritance is
void as this will likely entice an instituted heir or
lagatee to end up the life of the benefactor. The
test of whether an inheritance is future or not is
the time of death. If the death of the benefactor
had come ahead of the contract involving the
whole or part of an inheritance, the contract is
removed from the prohibition.
Object must be determinate, exceptions
The object of the contract must be determinate as to
leave no doubt as to which is intended from the kind
where it belongs, or must have definite limits. However,
the fact that the quantity is not determinate is not an
obstacle to the existence of the contract, provided it is
possible to determine what the object is without the need
of a new contract between parties.

Example: the object is described as the first batch of

lanzones from a five-hectare land in Paete, Laguna.
Cause or consideration is the immediate,
direct and proximate reasons why a party
enters into the contract. The cause varies
according to the type of contracts:
•(a) onerous contracts
•(b) remunatory contracts
•(c) gratuitous contracts
Onerous contracts
 the cause is the promise of a thing or service by
the other.

Example:
if A sells his property to B for P1,000,000.00,
the onerous cause for A is the P1,000,000.00
coming from B, whereas, that of B is the property
coming from A.
Remunatory contracts
 the
cause is the service or benefit which is being
remunerated

Example:
a professional fee of an engineer who
pursuant to contract with a client prepares the
plan or design the latters residential house.
Gratuitous contracts
• or contracts of pure beneficence, the cause is the mere
liberality of the benefactor.
 unlike in onerous and remunatory contracts where each
party receives a valuable or material consideration, in
gratuitous contracts the obligador does not receive any.
 the liberality or cause in this case is the inner satisfaction
of the giver of having done or given a valuable factor or
help the receiving party.

Example:
donating a piece of land to a poor community
Motives in entering into a contract
• the particular motives of the parties in entering into a
contract are different from the cause. The motive is the
special or personal reason of a party why he entered into
contract.

Example: in a sale of a new car for P3,000,000.00

purchaser = as a reward to himself or gift to someone
dealer = reinvest the money strictly for business profit
In other words, motive has a reference to the person
and cause refers to the contract.
Contracts without cause or with illegal cause
Contracts without a cause or with an illegal
cause produce no effect whatsoever. The cause is
unlawful if it is contrary to law, morals, good
customs, public order and public policy.

Example: the deed of sale states that the seller

received the price for winning something
Statement of a false cause in contract
The statement of a false cause shall render them
void, if it should not be proved that it is founded upon
another cause which is true and lawful
Example: A signs a contract of sale stating that he sold
and delivered an item to B for P10,000.00 which the latter
paid in cash.

But suppose, in an action to recover the item, B

proved that A has an existing debt to him worth the same
amount. In such case, the contract continues to enjoy the
presumption of validity since the real and true cause has
been proven.
Presumption of consideration
Although the cause is not stated in the
contract, the same is presumed to exist and is
lawful, unless the debtor proves the contrary.

Example: A negotiable item reading “pay to

Juan Dela Cruz on demand the sum of
P12,000.00”, signed at the bottom of the
debtor.
Lesion or inadequacy of cause
Except in cases specified by law, lesion or
inadequacy of cause shall not avoid or invalidate
a contract, unless there has been fraud or undue
influence.
Lesion => the damage suffered by a party of
inadequacy

Example:
A, a Visayan resident, is the owner of a 500
sq.m. residential lot in Tagaytay City. Without
knowing that the cost per sq.m. is P500.00, he
sold it to B at P300.00 per sq.m.
Lesion or inadequacy of cause

Under the circumstances, the lesion of

P200.00 per sq.m. he suffered will not
invalidate the contract. But if B or a third
person had deliberately used fraud or undue
influence, or B had committed a substantial
mistake, lesion suffered may be a basis of an
action to invalidate the contract.
END