Short answer. Article 1157 lists five: law, contracts, quasi-contracts, acts or omissions punished by law, and quasi-delicts. Every obligation you can be legally bound to fulfill traces back to one of these five origins, whether you agreed to it, the law imposed it, or your own wrongful act created it.
What the law says
Obligations arise from: (1) Law; (2) Contracts; (3) Quasi-contracts; (4) Acts or omissions punished by law; and (5) Quasi-delicts.
Civil Code, Article 1157 — Sources of Obligations. Read the full provision →
The five sources, named directly
Article 1157 gives a closed list: obligations arise from: (1) Law; (2) Contracts; (3) Quasi-contracts; (4) Acts or omissions punished by law; and (5) Quasi-delicts. Any time you ask whether you are legally bound to do or give something, the answer has to trace back to one of these five categories. Nothing outside this list creates a civil obligation on its own — an obligation is either imposed directly by a statute, agreed to by contract, or arises from one of the other three situations the article names.
Law and contracts — the two most familiar sources
Obligations imposed directly by law exist without any agreement between the parties — a statute simply requires the conduct, such as a duty of support between certain relatives. Obligations from contracts are the opposite: they exist because the parties themselves agreed to be bound, and the terms of that agreement generally define what each side owes the other. These two sources cover most obligations people encounter day to day, but they are not the only ones.
Quasi-contracts, crimes, and quasi-delicts
The remaining three sources cover obligations that arise without any actual agreement. A quasi-contract obliges someone based on lawful, voluntary acts that would otherwise unjustly enrich one party at another's expense, even though no contract was made. An act or omission punished by law creates a civil obligation to answer for the resulting damage, separate from any criminal penalty. A quasi-delict obliges a person who causes damage to another through fault or negligence, where no pre-existing contractual relationship connects them.
Why identifying the source matters
The source of an obligation determines the rules that govern it — its prescriptive period, the required proof, and available defenses often differ depending on whether the claim rests on a contract, a quasi-delict, or a statutory duty. Before evaluating what you are owed, or what you owe someone else, it helps to identify which of these five categories the obligation actually falls under, since the Civil Code treats each one differently even though all five ultimately create the same kind of binding duty.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Lara’s Gifts & Decors, Inc. vs. Midtown Industrial Sales, Inc, G.R. No. 225433, August 28, 2019 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Abs-Cbn Broadcasting Corporation, et al. vs. Office of the Ombudsman, et al, G.R. No. 133347, October 15, 2008 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Benjamin T. De Leon, Jr. vs. Roqson Industrial Sales, Inc, G.R. No. 234329, November 23, 2021 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- People of the Philippines vs. Gerry Lipata y Ortiza, G.R. No. 200302, April 20, 2016 — read the decision on LawPhil →