Short answer. Article 1163 of the Civil Code sets the default standard at the diligence of a good father of a family, an ordinary, reasonably prudent level of care. That default applies unless the law itself, or an agreement between you and the other person, specifies a different standard of care to be observed.
What the law says
Every person obliged to give something is also obliged to take care of it with the proper diligence of a good father of a family, unless the law or the stipulation of the parties requires another standard of care.
Civil Code, Article 1163 — Diligence of a Good Father of a Family. Read the full provision →
The default standard, named plainly
Article 1163 sets a general baseline for anyone obliged to give you something: every person obliged to give something is also obliged to take care of it with the proper diligence of a good father of a family. That phrase describes an ordinary, reasonably careful standard — the kind of attentiveness a prudent person exercises over their own affairs, not an extraordinary or expert-level standard of vigilance.
The standard is not fixed — the law can raise or lower it
The article itself builds in an exception: this standard applies unless the law or the stipulation of the parties requires another standard of care. So the good-father-of-a-family diligence is a default, not an absolute rule. Certain relationships are governed by other legal provisions that impose a stricter or different standard, and where that is the case, this article's baseline gives way to whatever the more specific rule requires.
An agreement between the parties can also change it
The exception is not limited to what the law separately provides — it also covers the stipulation of the parties. If you and the person holding your property agreed, in a contract or other arrangement, to a specific standard of care different from the ordinary one, that agreed standard controls instead of the default in this article. This cuts both ways: the parties can agree to something stricter, or in some circumstances something more lenient, than the ordinary diligence this article otherwise supplies.
Figuring out which standard applies to you
Start by checking whether any specific law or your own agreement with the other party says anything about the standard of care owed — if so, that governs instead of this article's default. If nothing else applies, Article 1163's ordinary diligence is the benchmark, and whether the other person met it depends on how a reasonably careful person would have handled property like yours under the same circumstances, not on whether the outcome happened to be a loss.
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.
- Sta. Lucia Realty and Development, in Corpora Ted vs. Edsel B. Lumawag, G.R. No. 222897, February 22, 2023 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Sister Pilar Versoza vs. People of the Philippines, Michelina S. Aguirre-Olondriz, Pedro Aguirre, G.R. No. 184535, September 3, 2019 — read the decision on LawPhil →