Title XVII.

EXTRA-CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS
CHAPTER 1 > QUASI-CONTRACTS
Art. 2142. Certain lawful, voluntary and unilateral acts give rise to the juridical relation of quasicontract to the end that no one shall be unjustly enriched or benefited at the expense of another. (n)
Art. 2143. The provisions for quasi-contracts in this Chapter do not exclude other quasi-contracts
which may come within the purview of the preceding article. (n)
SECTION 1. Negotiorum Gestio
Art. 2144. Whoever voluntarily takes charge of the agency or management of the business or
property of another, without any power from the latter, is obliged to continue the same until the
termination of the affair and its incidents, or to require the person concerned to substitute him, if the
owner is in a position to do so. This juridical relation does not arise in either of these instances:
(1) When the property or business is not neglected or abandoned;
(2) If in fact the manager has been tacitly authorized by the owner.
In the first case, the provisions of Articles 1317, 1403, No. 1, and 1404 regarding unauthorized
contracts shall govern.
In the second case, the rules on agency in Title X of this Book shall be applicable. (1888a)
Art. 2145. The officious manager shall perform his duties with all the diligence of a good father of a
family, and pay the damages which through his fault or negligence may be suffered by the owner of
the property or business under management.
The courts may, however, increase or moderate the indemnity according to the circumstances of each
case. (1889a)
Art. 2146. If the officious manager delegates to another person all or some of his duties, he shall be
liable for the acts of the delegate, without prejudice to the direct obligation of the latter toward the
owner of the business.
The responsibility of two or more officious managers shall be solidary, unless the management was
assumed to save the thing or business from imminent danger. (1890a)
Art. 2147. The officious manager shall be liable for any fortuitous event:
(1) If he undertakes risky operations which the owner was not accustomed to embark upon;
(2) If he has preferred his own interest to that of the owner;

(3) If he fails to return the property or business after demand by the owner;
(4) If he assumed the management in bad faith. (1891a)
Art. 2148. Except when the management was assumed to save property or business from imminent
danger, the officious manager shall be liable for fortuitous events:
(1) If he is manifestly unfit to carry on the management;
(2) If by his intervention he prevented a more competent person from taking up the management.
(n)
Art. 2149. The ratification of the management by the owner of the business produces the effects of an
express agency, even if the business may not have been successful. (1892a)
Art. 2150. Although the officious management may not have been expressly ratified, the owner of the
property or business who enjoys the advantages of the same shall be liable for obligations incurred in
his interest, and shall reimburse the officious manager for the necessary and useful expenses and for
the damages which the latter may have suffered in the performance of his duties.
The same obligation shall be incumbent upon him when the management had for its purpose the
prevention of an imminent and manifest loss, although no benefit may have been derived. (1893)
Art. 2151. Even though the owner did not derive any benefit and there has been no imminent and
manifest danger to the property or business, the owner is liable as under the first paragraph of the
preceding article, provided:
(1) The officious manager has acted in good faith, and
(2) The property or business is intact, ready to be returned to the owner. (n)
Art. 2152. The officious manager is personally liable for contracts which he has entered into with
third persons, even though he acted in the name of the owner, and there shall be no right of action
between the owner and third persons. These provisions shall not apply:
(1) If the owner has expressly or tacitly ratified the management, or
(2) When the contract refers to things pertaining to the owner of the business. (n)
Art. 2153. The management is extinguished:
(1) When the owner repudiates it or puts an end thereto;
(2) When the officious manager withdraws from the management, subject to the provisions of Article
2144;
(3) By the death, civil interdiction, insanity or insolvency of the owner or the officious manager. (n)

SECTION 2. Solutio Indebiti

Art. 2154. If something is received when there is no right to demand it, and it was unduly delivered
through mistake, the obligation to return it arises. (1895)
Art. 2155. Payment by reason of a mistake in the construction or application of a doubtful or difficult
question of law may come within the scope of the preceding article. (n)
Art. 2156. If the payer was in doubt whether the debt was due, he may recover if he proves that it was
not due. (n)
Art. 2157. The responsibility of two or more payees, when there has been payment of what is not due,
is solidary. (n)
Art. 2158. When the property delivered or money paid belongs to a third person, the payee shall
comply with the provisions of article 1984. (n)
Art. 2159. Whoever in bad faith accepts an undue payment, shall pay legal interest if a sum of money
is involved, or shall be liable for fruits received or which should have been received if the thing
produces fruits.
He shall furthermore be answerable for any loss or impairment of the thing from any cause, and for
damages to the person who delivered the thing, until it is recovered. (1896a)
Art. 2160. He who in good faith accepts an undue payment of a thing certain and determinate shall
only be responsible for the impairment or loss of the same or its accessories and accessions insofar as
he has thereby been benefited. If he has alienated it, he shall return the price or assign the action to
collect the sum. (1897)
Art. 2161. As regards the reimbursement for improvements and expenses incurred by him who
unduly received the thing, the provisions of Title V of Book II shall govern. (1898)
Art. 2162. He shall be exempt from the obligation to restore who, believing in good faith that the
payment was being made of a legitimate and subsisting claim, destroyed the document, or allowed
the action to prescribe, or gave up the pledges, or cancelled the guaranties for his right. He who paid
unduly may proceed only against the true debtor or the guarantors with regard to whom the action is
still effective. (1899)
Art. 2163. It is presumed that there was a mistake in the payment if something which had never been
due or had already been paid was delivered; but he from whom the return is claimed may prove that
the delivery was made out of liberality or for any other just cause. (1901)
SECTION 3. Other Quasi-Contracts
Art. 2164. When, without the knowledge of the person obliged to give support, it is given by a
stranger, the latter shall have a right to claim the same from the former, unless it appears that he
gave it out of piety and without intention of being repaid. (1894a)

Art. 2165. When funeral expenses are borne by a third person, without the knowledge of those
relatives who were obliged to give support to the deceased, said relatives shall reimburse the third
person, should the latter claim reimbursement. (1894a)
Art. 2166. When the person obliged to support an orphan, or an insane or other indigent person
unjustly refuses to give support to the latter, any third person may furnish support to the needy
individual, with right of reimbursement from the person obliged to give support. The provisions of
this article apply when the father or mother of a child under eighteen years of age unjustly refuses to
support him.
Art. 2167. When through an accident or other cause a person is injured or becomes seriously ill, and
he is treated or helped while he is not in a condition to give consent to a contract, he shall be liable to
pay for the services of the physician or other person aiding him, unless the service has been rendered
out of pure generosity.
Art. 2168. When during a fire, flood, storm, or other calamity, property is saved from destruction by
another person without the knowledge of the owner, the latter is bound to pay the former just
compensation.
Art. 2169. When the government, upon the failure of any person to comply with health or safety
regulations concerning property, undertakes to do the necessary work, even over his objection, he
shall be liable to pay the expenses.
Art. 2170. When by accident or other fortuitous event, movables separately pertaining to two or more
persons are commingled or confused, the rules on co-ownership shall be applicable.
Art. 2171. The rights and obligations of the finder of lost personal property shall be governed by
Articles 719 and 720.
Art. 2172. The right of every possessor in good faith to reimbursement for necessary and useful
expenses is governed by Article 546.
Art. 2173. When a third person, without the knowledge of the debtor, pays the debt, the rights of the
former are governed by Articles 1236 and 1237.
Art. 2174. When in a small community a nationality of the inhabitants of age decide upon a measure
for protection against lawlessness, fire, flood, storm or other calamity, any one who objects to the
plan and refuses to contribute to the expenses but is benefited by the project as executed shall be
liable to pay his share of said expenses.
Art. 2175. Any person who is constrained to pay the taxes of another shall be entitled to
reimbursement from the latter.