CHAPTER 2- HUMAN RELATIONS

- Rightful relationship between human beings and for the stability of the social
order

1. Abuse of right

- A contradiction in terms if a person acts with abuse, his right to act ceases,
and his act becomes illicit, giving rise to liability

Every person must, in the exercise of his rights and in the

performance of his duties, act with justice, give everyone his due,
and observe honesty and good faith.

Old Rule “he who uses a right injures no one”= no person can be held liable for
damages occasioned to another by the exercise of a right

Modern a person should be protected only when he acts in the legitimate

exercise of his right, that is, when he acts with prudence and in good faith; but not
when he acts with negligence and abuse.

Reason for Principle

-the exercise of a right ends when the right disappears, and it disappears when it is
abused, especially to the prejudice of others.

Test of abuse of right

- Anti- social—the principle does not permit acts which, without utility or
legitimate purpose, cause damage to another, because they violate the
concept of social solidarity which considers law as rational and just.

o Good faith- absence of good faith essential to abuse of right

 An honest intention to abstain from taking any unconscientious

advantage of another, even through the forms or technicalities
of the law, together with an absence of all information or belief
of facts which would render the transaction unconscientious.

o Pre- contractual Abuse: the refusal to contract when there is no

legitimate reason for the refusal
 o Abuse of Contractual Relations

 Revocation of Agency

• If the revocation was capricious or for the purpose of

prejudicing the agent, the principal must indemnify his
victim for the damages the latter may suffer from his act,
which is intrinsically legal but abusive and unjust in origin

 Promise to marry

• Has no obligatory force; therefore as a rule, its breach

cannot give rise to liability for damages.

• But the right to withdraw must not be unjustified and

abusive.

Use of Right- where a person merely uses a right pertaining to him, without bad
faith or intent to injure, the fact that damages are thereby suffered by another will
not make the former liable.

- Absolute Rights

(1)The right of parents to refuse or deny their consent to the marriage of a

minor child

(2)The right to deprive one’s legal heirs of an inheritance by giving all the
property of the testator to others, so long as the legitime is not impaired

(3)The right to set up the nullity of contracts, legal presumptions and

prescription of obligations