Section 2. Object of Contract

All services which are not contrary to law, morals, good customs, public order or public policy may likewise be the object of a contract.

• The object of a contract is its subject matter. It can be a thing, right or service arising from a contract.

• If the object of the contract is a thing, it should be within the commerce of man that its alienation is not restricted by law.

Object of Contracts Requisites:

• Things or services must be within the commerce of men. (not to sidewalks, vote buying and others)

• It must be transmissible.

• It must not be contrary to law, morals, good customs, public order or public policy.

Future inheritance is defined as any property or right not in existence or capable of determination at the time of contract, that a person may in the future acquire by succession. 

• No contract may be entered into with respect to the future inheritance.

• Exception is only when expressly allowed by law. 

• Inheritance ceases to be future upon the death of the decedent.

EXAMPLE: 

A agreed to sell to B the red wines that his three hectare vineyard may produce in payment of his authorised capital stock to B  for the corporation they are forming. Under the law said contract is valid although the red wine is not yet in existence. 

Concept of the object of a contract

The object of a contract is its subject matter (Art. 1318[2]).

Kinds of objects of contract

Object certainty is the second essential element of a valid contract.

Contracts can be:

• things (as in the sale of property)

• rights (as an assignment of credit)

• services (as in agency)

Requisites of things as objects of contract

In order for things to be the object of a contract, the following requisites must be present:

• The thing must be within the commerce of men, that is, it can legally be the subject of a commercial transaction (Art. 1347);

• It must not be impossible, legally or physically (Art. 1348).

• It must be in existence or capable of coming into existence (see Arts. 1461, 1493, and 1494); and

• It must be determinate or determinable without the need for a new contract between the parties. (Arts. 1349, 1460, par. 2)

Requisites of services as objects of contract

In order that a service may be the object of a contract, the following requisites must concur:

• The service must be within the commerce of men;

• It must not be impossible, physically or legally (Art. 1348); and

• It must be determinate or capable of being made determinate. (Arts. 1318[2], 1349.)

Rights as object of contract As a general rule, all rights may be the object of a contract.

The exceptions are when they are intransmissible by their nature, by stipulation, or by a provision of law. (Art. 1311, par. 1)

EXAMPLES:

• Outside the commerce of men.

• impossible, physically or legally.

• Determinable things 

• Future things or rights

• Intransmissible rights

meaning of future inheritance

Future inheritance is any property or right, not in existence or capable of determination at the time of the contract, that a person may inherit in the future. requisites of inheritance to be considered future A contract may be classified as a contract upon future inheritance where the following requisites concur:

• The succession had not yet been opened at the time of the contract;

• The object of the contract forms part of the inheritance, and

• The promissor has, with respect to the object, an expectation of a right that is purely hereditary in nature.

Validity of contracts upon future inheritance.

Except in cases expressly authorized by law, a contract concerning future inheritance is void and, consequently, cannot be the source of any right or the creator of any obligation between the parties.

Exceptions: The law permits contracts on future inheritance.

1. Future spouses may give each other up to one-fifth of their present property if they agree in their marriage agreements to a system other than the absolute community of property, but with regard to their future property, such donations shall be governed by the provisions on testamentary succession and the formalities of wills. (Art. 84, Family Code.) This means that such donations (by reason of marriage) of future property will only be effective to the degree specified by law in testamentary succession in the event of death, and

2. In the case of partition of property by act inter vivos by a person (i.e., owner or source of the property) to take effect upon his death. (Art. 1080; see Arroyo vs. Gerona, 58 Phil. 226 [1933]).  Property that will be passed down through inheritance cannot be divided while the owner is still alive. (Arrogante vs. Deliarte, 528 SCRA 63 [2007])

Future inheritances cannot be renounced. (Uson vs. Del Rosario, 92 Phil. 531 [1952].)

Inheritance ceases to be future upon the death of the decedent.

Upon the death of the deceased, who is the source of the property, however, future inheritance ceases to be future and, consequently, may be the object of a contract.

Kinds of impossibility

(1) Physical. when the thing or service in the very nature of things cannot exist (e.g., a cat that has wings) or be performed. With particular reference to services (see Arts. 1266, 1267), the impossibility may be:

(a) Absolute. — when the act cannot be done in any case so that nobody can perform it (e.g., to fly like an eagle, etc.); or

(b) Relative. — when it arises from the special circumstances of the case (e.g., to make payment to a dead person, to drive a car on flooded highways, etc.) or the special conditions or qualifications of the obligor (to be witnessed by a blind person, etc.); or

(2) Legal. when the thing or service is contrary to law, morals, good customs, public order, or public policy.

Effect of physical impossibility on the validity of a contract

• The absolute impossibility nullifies the contract.

• The relative impossibility, if temporary, does not nullify the contract, such as when a partner agrees to contribute to the partnership an amount more than is permissible by his means; if permanent, it annuls the contract, such as blindness in contracts that require the use of eyesight. (8 Manresa 685.)

Impossible things

• Before I can give you five million pesos, you must give me a shooting star.

• The carpenter was obliged to stop the construction of a road near the mountain because of the presence of landslides and heavy storms.

The quantity of the object of the contract need not be determinate.

It is sufficient that it is possible to determine the same without the need for a new contract between the parties.

When the obligation consists in the delivery of a generic thing whose quality and circumstances have not been stated, Article 1246 governs.

DETERMINATION OF QUANTITY: A new or additional agreement between the parties is required when the obligation is the delivery of a generic or indeterminate thing whose quality and circumstances have not been specified. But once the object is determinate or a specific thing, there is no need for further agreement between the parties.

Determinate or specific thing—particularly or physically segregated others of the same class.

Examples:
1. The Converse shoes I am wearing.

2. The Ford Hilux with plate No. ABC 098 421

Generic or indeterminate thing

1. A bulk or new Converse shoes
2. A 2024 Hilux release

Examples

Roseanne binds herself to deliver one of her chickens to Jisoo.

Here, the object is determinable without the need for a new contract between the parties, and it becomes determinable the moment it is delivered.

If the subject matter of the agreement is a parcel of residential land owned by Roseanne, and Roseanne happens to own many residential lands, the contract is void if the particular land sold cannot be determined without a new or further agreement between the parties.