Libro Quinto Título VI. Obligaciones provenientes de hechos lícitos sin convenio

Whoever without an agreement voluntarily takes charge of another's affairs is obligated to direct and manage them usefully and for the benefit of the owner.

The management shall cease from the moment the interested party or whoever represents him appears in person in the matter.

The manager shall give notice of his management to the owner as soon as possible and await his decision, unless there is danger in the delay.

If it is not possible to give such notice, the manager shall continue his management until the matter is concluded.

The manager shall be subject, in the exercise of management, to the obligations and responsibilities of the mandatary, to the extent they are applicable.

When two or more persons undertake the management of the affairs of a third party, their liability shall be joint and several.

The judge shall consider, in fixing the extent of liability, the circumstances that induced the manager to undertake the management.

The manager shall be liable for the fortuitous event when he performs operations distinct from the ordinary course of the owner's business, when he has subordinated the latter's interest to his own, or when he initiated the management against the manifest or presumed will of the owner.

The manager's liability for fortuitous event ceases if he proves that it would have occurred likewise even if he had abstained from the management.

The ratification of the management by the owner produces the effects of an express mandate and operates retroactively.

Even if he has not expressly ratified the management of another's affairs, the owner of the property or businesses who takes advantage of the benefits thereof shall be liable for the obligations contracted in his interest and shall indemnify the manager for the necessary and useful expenses he has incurred and the losses he has suffered in the performance of the management.

The same obligation applies to him when the management has had as its object to avoid any imminent and manifest loss, although no benefit results therefrom.

The utility or necessity of the expense incurred by the manager shall be assessed, not by the result obtained, but according to the circumstances at the time it was incurred.

When, without the knowledge of the person obligated to provide maintenance, a third party provides it, such third party shall have the right to claim it from the former, unless it is shown that he provided it out of charity and without intent to claim it.

Funeral expenses furnished by one who had no obligation, and in relation to the social position of the person and to the customs of the place, shall be satisfied out of the property of the decedent, and if such property is insufficient or he left none, the persons who in life would have had the obligation to support him shall be liable.

The person who without legitimate cause is enriched to the detriment of another is obliged to indemnify the latter to the extent of the unjust enrichment.

There is no unjust enrichment in contracts lawfully entered into, whatever benefit one of the contracting parties may obtain; except for the case contemplated in Article 1542.

Whoever has paid something by mistake, believing himself to be debtor thereof, has the right to recover it from the person who received it unduly. However, when a person, as a result of his own mistake, has paid the debt of another, he shall have no right of recovery against the person who, as a result of the payment, has destroyed or cancelled a title necessary for the collection of his credit; but he may bring against the debtor the actions of the creditor.

If the person who receives the undue payment is a minor or incapacitated person, he shall restitute only what is in his possession and what was consumed for his own benefit; except in the case of bad faith attributable to the minor, or where he received it through his legal representative, cases in which the provisions relating to capable persons shall apply.

If the person who in good faith receives the undue thing and alienates it before having been notified of the claim for restitution, shall be obligated to return the price received or to assign the action to claim it from the buyer. If the alienation had been made by gratuitous title, the donation shall not subsist.

If the person who received what was not owed to him acted in bad faith, he shall be obligated not only to the restitution prescribed in the preceding article, but also to the fruits or the legal interest from the date of the undue payment, and to repair the detriment suffered by the thing.

In the event that the thing unduly paid has been lost in whole or in part, the person who received it in good faith shall only be obligated to compensate for it in whole or in part if he was at fault in its loss.

But the person who received it in bad faith shall in any case restore its value and pay the interest accrued from the day on which it was unduly paid to him.

If the person who received in bad faith the thing unduly paid alienates it and the third-party acquirer has also acted in bad faith, both shall be jointly and severally liable to the owner.

Whoever in good faith has accepted an undue payment has the right to be reimbursed for necessary expenses and to remove useful improvements, if the thing given in payment suffers no detriment from the separation. If it were to suffer deterioration from the separation, he has the right to be paid an amount equivalent to the increase in value that the thing received from the improvement made.

That which has been paid, which could not have been demanded in accordance with the laws but was satisfied in accordance with equity, cannot be recovered.

Nor can that which was given for purposes of maintenance or out of piety be recovered, if at the time of delivery no reservation was made to claim payment.

A payment made to extinguish a conditional obligation whose condition has not been fulfilled, or for a cause that has ceased to exist, is subject to the rules of undue payment.

The rights and obligations with respect to what was unduly paid pass to the respective heirs.

The action to recover what was unduly paid prescribes in one year, counted from the date on which the undue payment was made.

A person who offers objects to the public at a specified price shall be bound to maintain such offer.

Whoever makes an offer through the press or other means of dissemination to remunerate a performance or an act incurs the obligation to fulfill what was promised.

Whoever carries out the performance, even without having had knowledge of the existence of the promise, may demand the offered reward from the obligor.

The public promise of reward may be revoked, when there is just cause therefor, in the same form as the offer, unless the performance has already been rendered.

Revocation obliges the promisor to reimburse the expenses incurred by those who in good faith began to perform the act and gave notice of having begun; but the total sum reimbursed may not exceed the amount of the remuneration offered.

Whoever has rendered the performance or begun to perform it may claim reimbursement within the two months following the date of publication of the revocation.

If the act for which the reward was promised was performed by several persons, the one who first performed it shall have the right to receive it.

If the act was performed simultaneously by several persons, each shall receive an equal share of the reward.

If the reward is not divisible, or if, according to the tenor of the promise, it is to be obtained by only one person, it shall be decided by lot among the interested persons.

In contests in which there is a promise of reward, it is an indispensable requirement that a time limit be set for the presentation of the work.

The person or persons designated for the evaluation of the works are obliged to decide to whom the offered prize is to be delivered or whether none of the works submitted deserves the reward.

The promisor may only demand ownership of the rewarded work when he has stipulated this condition in the promise.

Bearer instruments are those not issued in favor of a specific person, whether or not they contain the clause "to bearer".

These instruments are transferred by mere delivery.

The holder of a bearer instrument may claim from the issuer the performance due.

The issuer is obligated to pay whoever presents and delivers the title to it, unless it has been judicially notified to withhold payment.

The issuer may not raise any defenses other than those relating to the nullity of the title, those derived from its text, or those it has against the bearer who presents it.

The subscriber of a bearer instrument is obligated, even when it has been stolen or lost, or has entered circulation without his will.

For the effectiveness of the bearer obligation it shall be immaterial whether the instrument was put into circulation after the death or incapacity of the person who subscribes it.

Bearer instruments in series containing the obligation to pay a sum of money may not be issued without governmental authorization, upon prior verification that the requirements and formalities established in special laws have been fulfilled.

Instruments of this nature placed in circulation without governmental authorization are void, but the issuer in this case is liable for damage and losses.

The replacement of instruments that due to their deterioration are not in condition to circulate, provided that the distinctive features thereof can be recognized with certainty, shall be made by the issuer, at the expense of the interested party, with prior approval of the First Instance judge of the domicile of the subscriber of the instrument.