Introduction

Obligations under Philippine civil law generally describe juridical necessities to give, to do, or not to do. In practice, the most important classification for property and transactions is whether an obligation is personal (binding only specific persons) or real (binding the world or “whoever holds the thing”). This distinction controls outcomes in disputes involving sales, leases, mortgages, easements, donations, land titles, and priority between competing claimants.

This article explains what “personal obligations” and “real obligations” mean in Philippine civil law, how they arise, what duties they impose, how they are enforced, and why the difference matters in real-world cases.

1) Core Definitions

A. Personal obligations (in personam)

A personal obligation is an obligation enforceable only against a definite person or persons (the debtor/s). It is relative—it creates a creditor-debtor relationship, and generally does not bind strangers.

Right involved: a personal right (jus in personam)—the power to demand from a specific person the performance of an obligation.
Typical examples:
- Loan: borrower must pay lender.
- Service contract: contractor must build for owner.
- Contract to sell: seller must deliver title upon full payment (depending on structure).
- Contract of employment (civil aspect): employer must pay wages, employee must render work.

B. Real obligations (in rem / obligations “running with the thing”)

In Philippine civil law usage, “real obligations” can be discussed in two closely related senses:

Real obligation as an obligation “to give” a thing (a debtor must deliver a determinate or generic thing).
Real obligation in the property-law sense: an obligation attached to a real right over a thing, enforceable against anyone who interferes, and in certain cases binding successors or possessors because the duty “follows” the property (e.g., obligations connected with easements, real mortgages, certain registered burdens, conditions annotated on title).

When people contrast real vs personal in a property context, they usually mean rights in rem (real rights) versus rights in personam (personal rights):

Real right: a right over a thing enforceable against the whole world (e.g., ownership, usufruct, easement, real mortgage).
Personal right: a right enforceable only against a specific person (e.g., right to collect rent, right to compel delivery under a contract not yet delivered/registered as required).

Key idea: A real obligation (in the property sense) is tied to a real right and can affect third parties—especially where the law or registration system makes it effective erga omnes.

2) Why the Distinction Matters

The classification determines:

Who can be sued or compelled
- Personal: only the debtor (and sometimes his heirs within limits).
- Real (property sense): can be asserted against anyone who disturbs the right; burdens may bind successors in interest.
Priority in conflicts
- A real right typically prevails over a mere personal right in disputes involving the same property—especially when registration and good faith rules apply.
Remedies
- Personal obligations often end in damages if performance cannot be compelled.
- Real rights often allow recovery of the thing, injunction, or actions like reivindicatory actions.
Effect on third persons
- Personal obligations generally do not bind third parties.
- Real obligations/rights can bind third parties once the legal requirements (often including registration) are satisfied.

3) Sources: How Personal vs Real Obligations Arise

A. Personal obligations typically arise from

Contracts (the most common)
Quasi-contracts (e.g., unjust enrichment)
Delicts/quasi-delicts (civil liability for wrongful acts)
Law (e.g., statutory duties)

B. Real obligations/rights typically arise from

Law (ownership incidents; legal easements; obligations of co-owners, etc.)
Contracts that create or transmit real rights, once legal formalities are met (delivery, registration when required, and other requisites)
Succession (heirs acquiring real rights over property)
Prescription (acquisitive)

In the Philippines, because of the Torrens system, many real rights and burdens become operative against third persons through registration (and annotation) rules. Without compliance, a party may have only a personal claim—even if the parties agreed otherwise.

4) Personal Obligations: Characteristics and Effects

A. Relativity of contracts

Personal obligations reflect the principle that contracts generally bind only the parties, their assigns, and heirs, except where law provides otherwise. Third persons are usually not bound.

B. Enforceability

If the debtor fails to perform, the creditor may pursue:

Specific performance (compel performance) if feasible and allowed
Rescission in reciprocal obligations where breach is substantial
Damages, interests, penalties, attorney’s fees (when allowed)

C. Risk allocation

For obligations to give, rules on:

determinate vs generic things
loss, deterioration, delay (mora)
fortuitous events apply. These are personal in the sense that enforcement is against the debtor, even though the object is a thing.

D. Transferability

Personal rights may be assigned (unless prohibited), and obligations may be assumed with consent rules, but they remain claims against a person—not rights over a thing enforceable against everyone.

5) Real Obligations / Real Rights: Characteristics and Effects

A. Absolute character (erga omnes)

A real right is enforceable against the whole world. Example: Ownership lets the owner exclude others and recover the property from whoever possesses it unlawfully.

B. Right follows the thing

Certain obligations “run with the land/thing,” so that whoever holds the property bears the burden, provided the law recognizes it as a real burden and registration/notice rules (when applicable) are satisfied.

Examples in principle:

Easements: servient estate bears the burden; dominant estate enjoys the benefit.
Real mortgage: the property answers for the secured debt; foreclosure acts on the property.
Usufruct: usufructuary has rights and duties tied to the thing; naked owner’s title persists.
Conditions/encumbrances annotated on title: can bind subsequent purchasers depending on the nature and validity of the annotation.

C. Preference in priority disputes

A real right, especially a registered one, generally has priority over later claims and often over unregistered personal claims.

D. Typical remedies

Reivindicatory action (recovery of ownership)
Accion publiciana (recovery of better right to possess)
Accion interdictal (summary actions for possession)
Injunction to prevent interference
Foreclosure (for mortgage)
Action to enforce easement or remove obstruction

6) Practical Comparison: Side-by-Side

A. Who is bound?

Personal obligation

Binds the debtor (and sometimes heirs/assigns).
Strangers are not bound.

Real obligation / real right

Enforceable against anyone who interferes.
Burdens may bind successors in interest (subject to legal rules).

B. What is protected?

Personal

The promise/performance owed by a person.

Real

The relationship between a person and a thing (ownership, security interest, use, servitude).

C. How is it enforced?

Personal

Suit against debtor for performance/damages/rescission.

Real

Action against possessor/interferer, or action that operates on the property (e.g., foreclosure).

D. What happens if property is transferred?

Personal

The creditor’s right generally stays against the original debtor.
Buyer of the property is not automatically bound unless he assumes obligation or law makes it binding.

Real

The right/burden may follow the property (e.g., mortgage lien, easement), often strengthened by registration.

7) Registration and the Philippine Property System: Turning “Personal” into “Real” (or not)

Philippine law strongly distinguishes between:

A personal agreement between parties, and
A real right effective against third persons.

Even if the parties intend to create a right over land, failure to comply with required formalities (and, for registered land, the appropriate registration/annotation) may leave the parties with only personal rights.

Common patterns

Unregistered sale of registered land
- Between seller and buyer, enforceable as a contract (personal).
- Against third persons, the buyer may lose to a subsequent purchaser in good faith who registers first, depending on circumstances.
Lease
- A lease is generally a personal right (right to use) arising from contract, but longer-term leases and those properly registered/annotated can affect third persons under certain rules. Unregistered leases may be vulnerable against buyers in good faith (subject to legal protections for lessees depending on facts).
Real mortgage
- To bind third persons and operate as a real right over land, mortgage must comply with formal requirements and registration/annotation rules. Otherwise, it may be merely a personal security arrangement between parties.

Takeaway: In land transactions, the “real vs personal” difference often hinges on whether the arrangement has been elevated from mere contract into a real right by compliance with the law’s mode and registration requirements.

8) Obligations “To Give” vs “Real Rights”: Avoiding a Common Confusion

Civil law also classifies obligations by prestation:

To give
To do
Not to do

An obligation to give a determinate thing is sometimes called a “real obligation” in older classroom terminology because it involves delivery of a thing. But that is different from a real right (ownership, mortgage, easement).

Example:

Seller’s duty to deliver a specific car = obligation to give (enforceable against seller).
Buyer’s ownership after valid transfer/delivery = real right in the car (enforceable against anyone who takes it).

So:

Obligation to give focuses on the debtor’s duty.
Real right focuses on the creditor’s (now holder’s) right over the thing against everyone.

9) Examples You’ll See in Philippine Practice

Example 1: Competing buyers of the same land

Buyer A signs a deed but does not register.
Buyer B later buys, is in good faith, and registers.
Buyer A may have a personal claim for damages or reconveyance depending on facts, but Buyer B’s registered real right may prevail.

Example 2: Mortgage vs unsecured loan

Lender with a properly constituted and registered mortgage has a real right (security interest) over property.
Unsecured lender has only a personal claim for payment.
In insolvency or priority disputes, the mortgagee is typically in a far stronger position because the right attaches to the property.

Example 3: Easement obstruction

Dominant estate owner can sue anyone obstructing the easement—even if that person wasn’t the one who originally agreed—because the right is tied to the property.

Example 4: Contractual promise to create a mortgage

A contract promising to mortgage is personal; it is enforceable to compel execution of the mortgage.
But until the mortgage is properly constituted and registered (when required), third persons may not be bound.

10) Remedies and Litigation Strategy: What You Ask the Court For

If you have a personal right

Your prayer for relief usually targets the debtor:

compel performance
rescind the contract
collect sums due
damages, interest, penalties

If you have a real right

Your action may target the world at large (through whoever is the current possessor/registrant/interferer):

recovery of property or possession
declaration of nullity of titles/encumbrances (as allowed)
injunction against interference
foreclosure (operating on the property)

Choosing the wrong theory (personal vs real) often leads to dismissal or weak relief. Courts look at the nature of the right and the applicable legal requirements (delivery, registration, notice, good faith, and the specific Civil Code provisions involved).

11) Heirs, Assigns, and Third Parties

A. Heirs

As a general rule, heirs succeed to property and certain obligations, but personal obligations can be limited:

They may be liable only up to the value of what they inherit, subject to estate settlement rules.
Real burdens on property (e.g., registered mortgage) remain attached to property inherited.

B. Assigns / subsequent purchasers

Personal obligations do not automatically bind a buyer unless the obligation is assumed or the law so provides.
Real rights and registered encumbrances are generally effective against subsequent purchasers, who take the property subject to them.

12) Quick Checklist: Is It Personal or Real (Philippine Context)?

Ask:

Is your right primarily against a person (to perform a promise), or against the world (to respect your right over a thing)?
Does the law treat it as a real right (ownership, mortgage, usufruct, easement, etc.)?
For land: was it properly constituted and, where required, registered/annotated?
If property changed hands: are you trying to bind a new holder who did not sign your contract?
- If yes, you likely need a real right (or a statutory exception), not merely a personal claim.

Conclusion

In Philippine civil law, personal obligations create enforceable duties between specific persons, while real obligations/real rights attach to a thing and can be enforced against anyone who interferes—often with decisive effects in property disputes. The difference is not academic: it determines whether you can recover the property itself or merely claim damages, whether you can bind subsequent buyers, and whether your claim survives changes in ownership.

In transactions involving land and registrable property, the line between personal and real frequently depends on compliance with legal formalities and registration/annotation—a foundational feature of Philippine property law practice.

If you want, tell me a concrete scenario (e.g., “unregistered deed of sale,” “lease with new owner,” “mortgage not annotated,” “right of way dispute”) and I’ll classify the right and map out the most fitting causes of action and remedies under Philippine civil law.