Short answer. No. Article 1316 provides that real contracts, such as deposit, pledge, and commodatum, are not perfected until delivery of the object of the obligation. Agreeing to pledge something or lend it under commodatum is not enough by itself; the thing must actually be delivered for the contract to exist.
What the law says
Real contracts, such as deposit, pledge and commodatum, are not perfected until the delivery of the object of the obligation.
Civil Code, Article 1316 — Real Contracts. Read the full provision →
Delivery, not agreement, perfects a real contract
Article 1316 identifies a category of contracts that work differently from most others: real contracts, such as deposit, pledge and commodatum, are not perfected until the delivery of the object of the obligation. For most contracts, mere consent between the parties is enough to bring the contract into existence. Real contracts are the exception. Until the specific thing involved, whether the item being pledged, deposited, or lent, is actually delivered, no binding pledge, deposit, or commodatum exists yet, no matter how clearly the parties agreed to the arrangement.
Why pledge and commodatum specifically need delivery
Both pledge and commodatum are built around one party having physical control of another's property. A pledge secures an obligation by giving the creditor possession of a thing as collateral, while commodatum is a gratuitous loan where the borrower receives a specific thing to use and later return. Because the entire arrangement in each case depends on that transfer of the thing, it makes sense that the law treats the contract as not yet formed until the transfer that defines the relationship has actually happened.
What an agreement without delivery actually is
An agreement to pledge property or to lend a thing under commodatum, made before any delivery occurs, is not without legal significance; it may still function as a preparatory agreement or a promise to enter into the real contract later. But it is not itself the pledge or the commodatum, and it does not carry the specific legal consequences that attach once those contracts are actually perfected. The distinction matters if a dispute arises before delivery, since the rights and remedies available differ depending on whether the real contract itself ever came into existence.
What this means if you are relying on a pledge or a loan of a thing
If you are counting on a pledge to secure a debt, or on a commodatum to use someone's property, confirm that actual delivery of the thing has taken place, not just that both sides agreed to the arrangement. Until delivery happens, you do not yet have the security a pledge is meant to provide, or the right to use the thing that a commodatum is meant to create, regardless of how firm the underlying agreement between the parties may be.