Quasi-delict and inducement to breach contract

Under the Spanish Civil Code, "Art. 1902. Any person who by any act or omission causes damage to another by his fault or negligence shall be liable for the damage so done."

"Article 1902 of the Civil Code declares that any person who by any act or omission, characterized by fault or negligence, causes damage to another shall be liable for the damage so done. Ignoring so much of this article as relates to liability of negligence, we take the rule to be that a person is liable for damage done to another by any culpable act; and by “culpable act’’ we mean any act which is blameworthy when judged by accepted legal standards. The idea thus expressed is undoubtedly broad enough to include any rational conception of liability for the tortious acts likely to be developed in any society." (Daywalt v. La Corporacion de los Padres Agustinos Recoletos, G.R. No. 13505, February 4, 1919, 39 Phil. 587)

In the 1919 Daywalt case, the Supreme Court had to decide on a complaint regarding malicious interference in the performance of contract. It was explained that, whatever may be the character of the liability, if any, which a stranger to a contract may incur by advising or assisting one of the parties to evade performance, he cannot become more extensively liable in damages for the nonperformance of the contract than the party in whose behalf he inter-meddles. To hold the stranger liable for damages in excess of those that could be recovered against the immediate party to the contract would lead to results at once grotesque and unjust.

The above ruling, however, can now be viewed from a different light due to the present Code.

Under the New Civil Code of the Philippines, "Article 1314. Any third person who induces another to violate his contract shall be liable for damages to the other contracting party." Also under the New Code, "Article 2176. Whoever by act or omission causes damage to another, there being fault or negligence, is obliged to pay for the damage done. Such fault or negligence, if there is no pre-existing contractual relation between the parties, is called a quasi-delict and is governed by the provisions of this Chapter."