Duration of Obligation

With the exception of the imperative to do no harm, obligations are limited in their term. At some point, the obligation is fulfilled. In some instances, an obligation is fulfilled at the completion of an act; in others, it has greater longevity. Ultimately, it seems to reason that the duration of obligation is negotiable, but the duration varies greatly. The example of a commercial transaction is sued to illustrate this notion:

The obligation of the buyer is fulfilled upon receipt of payment. To split hairs, the obligation is not satisfied by merely tendering payment, as a buy who tenders payment in the form of a rubber check or counterfeit currency has not satisfied his obligation. In most instances, the payment is accepted and validated in a short amount of time, and the buyer's obligation is fulfilled.

The obligation of the seller, meanwhile, has greater longevity. In most instances, their obligation to the buyer is not fulfilled by delivering a physical good or performing a service, but persists for a reasonable amount of time afterward. Primarily, if the seller has misrepresented the nature of the good itself, this is fundamentally no different than a buyer who has presented counterfeit currency.

Beyond that, the seller remains obligated until the item has been consumed or a reasonable amount of time has passed, such that age or usage could reasonably be expected to devalue the item for its intended purpose. The qualification of "reasonable" indicates that there is some variance that I will not presently explore. There is also the notion that the seller must share responsibility for any harm that arises from the use of an item that he has provided to a buyer, but this is a separate matter from the sales transaction.

And so, in the context of a single transaction the obligations between buyer seller are limited in their duration. In a basic sense, the buyer's obligation terminates on receipt of payment, and the sellers obligation terminates on the consumption of the goods provided.

An ongoing relationship between buyer and seller can be seen in a basic sense as a chain of transactions, with the obligation of seller to buyer renewing on each purchase (though to be precise, each obligation is entirely separate, so it is not a renewal of the same obligation but the initiation of a separate obligation, similar to the previous one).

It is in this sense that obligations take on persistence: it is understood that the buyer will be inclined (of importance - "inclined" and not "required") to return to the same seller, and that the seller will be inclined to serve the same buyer, so long as each fulfills their obligations in the previous transaction. And given the experience of successful transactions, a level of trust will arise for mutual obligations to be fulfilled. And until such time as the trust remains, the relationship persists.

My sense is I've digressed to a separate topic (relationships) which merits further consideration on its own - but in the context of the duration of obligation, it's significant to note that an "ongoing" obligation arises through repeat transactions - it is not separate and independent of the individual transactions.