Legal Obligation
A Legal Obligation is a legal bond between one or more legal entities which arises from a legal relationship or a specific set of circumstances.
- Context:
- It can range from being an Unliquidated Obligation to being a Voluntary Obligation.
- It can range from being a Contractual Obligation to being a Statutory Obligation.
- It can result in a outlay or lawsuit.
- It can arise from sources, such as: legislation, regulations, court rulings, or agreements between parties.
- It can be enforced through legal proceedings, such as lawsuits, fines, injunctions, or criminal penalties.
- It can be subject to interpretation and change due to evolving laws, legal precedents, and societal norms.
- It can apply to individuals, corporations, government entities, and other legal persons.
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- Example(s):
- Counter-Example(s):
- See: Law, Legal Rights, Legal Duty, Legal Liability, Civil Law, Criminal Law, Administrative Law, Provision Law.
References
2016
- (Wikipedia, 2016) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_obligations
- The law of obligations is one branch of private law under the civil law legal system and so-called "mixed" legal systems. It is the body of rules that organizes and regulates the rights and duties arising between individuals. The specific rights and duties are referred to as obligations, and this area of law deals with their creation, effects, and extinction.
An obligation is a legal bond (vinculum iuris) by which one or more parties (obligants) are bound to act or refrain from acting. An obligation thus imposes on the obligor a duty to perform, and simultaneously creates a corresponding right to demand performance by the obligee to whom performance is to be tendered. Obligations may be civil, which are enforceable by action in a court of law, or natural, which imply moral duties but are unenforceable unless the obligor consents.
- The law of obligations is one branch of private law under the civil law legal system and so-called "mixed" legal systems. It is the body of rules that organizes and regulates the rights and duties arising between individuals. The specific rights and duties are referred to as obligations, and this area of law deals with their creation, effects, and extinction.
2016
- (CDER, 2016) ⇒ CDER Library v1.5.1.
- QUOTE: Obligation means a legally binding agreement that will result in outlays, immediately or in the future. When you place an order, sign a contract, award a grant, purchase a service, or take other actions that require the Government to make payments to the public or from one Government account to another, you incur an obligation. It is a violation of the Antideficiency Act (31 U.S.C. § 1341(a)) to involve the Federal Government in a contract or obligation for payment of money before an appropriation is made, unless authorized by law. This means you cannot incur obligations in a vacuum; you incur an obligation against budget authority in a Treasury account that belongs to your agency. It is a violation of the Antideficiency Act to incur an obligation in an amount greater than the amount available in the Treasury account that is available. This means that the account must have budget authority sufficient to cover the total of such obligations at the time the obligation is incurred. In addition, the obligation you incur must conform to other applicable provisions of law, and you must be able to support the amounts reported by the documentary evidence required by 31 U.S.C. § 1501. Moreover, you are required to maintain certifications and records showing that the amounts have been obligated (31 U.S.C. § 1108). The following subsections provide additional guidance on when to record obligations for the different types of goods and services or the amount.
(...) Obligations - When used in connection with a non-Federal entity's utilization of funds under a Federal award, obligations means orders placed for property and services, contracts and subawards made, and similar transactions during a given period that require payment by the non-Federal entity during the same or a future period.
- QUOTE: Obligation means a legally binding agreement that will result in outlays, immediately or in the future. When you place an order, sign a contract, award a grant, purchase a service, or take other actions that require the Government to make payments to the public or from one Government account to another, you incur an obligation. It is a violation of the Antideficiency Act (31 U.S.C. § 1341(a)) to involve the Federal Government in a contract or obligation for payment of money before an appropriation is made, unless authorized by law. This means you cannot incur obligations in a vacuum; you incur an obligation against budget authority in a Treasury account that belongs to your agency. It is a violation of the Antideficiency Act to incur an obligation in an amount greater than the amount available in the Treasury account that is available. This means that the account must have budget authority sufficient to cover the total of such obligations at the time the obligation is incurred. In addition, the obligation you incur must conform to other applicable provisions of law, and you must be able to support the amounts reported by the documentary evidence required by 31 U.S.C. § 1501. Moreover, you are required to maintain certifications and records showing that the amounts have been obligated (31 U.S.C. § 1108). The following subsections provide additional guidance on when to record obligations for the different types of goods and services or the amount.