Title III: Sources of obligations

You can only make a commitment in your own name for yourself.

An obligation may be incurred by promising the act of a third party. The promisor is released from any obligation if the third party performs the promised act. If he does not, he may be ordered to pay damages. Where the purpose of the porte-fort is to ratify an undertaking, the undertaking is validated retroactively to the date on which the porte-fort was entered into.

One can stipulate for another. One of the contracting parties, the stipulator, can make the other, the promisor, promise to perform a service for the benefit of a third party, the beneficiary. The latter may be a future person but must be specifically designated or capable of being determined when the promise is performed.

The beneficiary is vested with a direct right to the benefit against the promisor as soon as the stipulation is made. Nevertheless the stipulator may freely revoke the stipulation as long as the beneficiary has not accepted it. The stipulation becomes irrevocable when acceptance reaches the stipulator or the promisor.

The revocation can only be made by the stipulator or, after his death, by his heirs. The latter may only do so after the expiry of a period of three months from the day on which they gave the beneficiary formal notice to accept it. If it is not accompanied by the designation of a new beneficiary, the revocation benefits, as the case may be, the stipulator or his heirs….

Acceptance may come from the beneficiary or, after his or her death, from his or her heirs. It may be express or tacit. It may occur even after the death of the stipulator or promisor.

The stipulator may himself require the promisor to fulfil his commitment to the beneficiary.