what is an obligation

An obligation is a course of action that someone is required to take, whether legal or moral. Obligations are constraints that limit freedom, and people who are under obligations may choose to freely act under obligations. Obligations can arise from a sense of duty, custom, law, or a moral responsibility. They can be created voluntarily, such as one arising from a contract, quasi-contract, or unilateral promise, or involuntarily, such as an obligation arising from torts or a statute. An obligation binds together two or more determinate persons, and the legal meaning of an obligation denotes not only a duty but also a correlative right. The person or entity who was liable for the obligation is called the obligor, and the person or entity who holds the correlative right to an obligation is called the obligee. Some common uses of the term "obligation" in a legal sense include the duty to pay or perform certain acts.