8th and 9th Week - Civil Law
- Every person is presumed to know the
• What is the Civil Code?
- The product of the codification of
private law in the Philippines. It is the
general law that governs family and
property relations in the Philippines. It
was enacted in 1950 and remains in
force to date despite some significant
amendments.
• What are the books of the Civil
Code?
1) Persons
2) Property, Ownership and its
Modifications
3) Modes of Acquiring Ownership
4) Obligations and Contracts
• When do laws take effect? Discuss
Article 2 of the Civil Code
- Article 2. Laws shall take effect after
fifteen days following the completion of
their publication in the Official Gazette,
or in a newspaper of general circulation
in the Philippines, unless it is otherwise
provided. This Code shall take effect
one year after such publication.
*Official Gazette - official journal of the
Republic of the Philippines
• Discuss Article 3 of the Civil Code
- Article 3. Ignorance of the law
excuses no one from compliance
therewith.
*Ignorantia Legis Non Excusat -
presumption that every person knows
the law for it has been published.
• What is the rationale of Article 3?
laws, and that is an invalid defense in
court that one does not know the
existence of a law punishing the act
he/she may have been committed. It is
our duty as a citizen to know the laws
that govern us and to abide with the
laws.
- This is necessary rule for all civilized
society. Otherwise it would be
impossible to enforce law. It is very hard
to determine whether or not a person
does not know the law. Without this rule,
there would be anarchy. The law
sacrifices occasional harshness to
prevent universal anarchy.
- Article 3 applies only to ignorance of
Philippine law. In private international
law, foreign law must be proven even if
it is applicable. Otherwise, the courts will
presume foreign law to be the same as
Philippine law.
Two types of notice:
1) Actual Notice – written notice
delivered to an individual
2) Constructive notice – people are
notified of the law even if they did
not read the Official Gazette
• Discuss Article 4 of the Civil Code
- Article 4. Laws shall have no
retroactive effect, unless the contrary is
provided.
- Article 3, Section 22
- Ex post facto: after not before
*General Rule: all statutes are to be
construed as having only prospective
operation
- Those who committed murder =
reclusion perpetua
*Exception: when the law itself
expressly provides
- Criminal Laws
- RA 9364 (law that removed death
penalty as crimes)
AC - administrative cases
RTJ – regional trial court judge
• What is the rationale of Article 4?
- Lex de futuro judex de preterito (the
law provides for the future, the judge for
the past)
- Retroactive law - one which creates a
new obligation and imposes a new duty
or attaches a new disability with respect
to transactions or considerations already
past.
*General Rule - law must be applied
prospectively.
- likely to happen, to become something
in the future
• Discuss Article 5 of the Civil Code
- Article 5. Acts executed against the
provisions of mandatory or prohibitory
laws shall be void, except when the law
itself authorizes their validity.
*Mandatory Laws - prescribe some
element as a requirement (wills must be
written)
*Prohibitory Laws - laws that forbid
something
*Void - not existing in the eyes of the
law; a VOID ACT produces no rights,
imposes no duties, and affords no
protection.
• Discuss Article 6 of the Civil Code
- Article 6. Rights may be waived,
unless the waiver is contrary to law,
public order, public policy, morals, or
good customs, or prejudicial to a third
person with a right recognized by law.
• What is a right?
- Rights are those that belong to every
citizen of the state and are not
connected with the organization or
administration right recognized by law.
- Includes the rights of property,
marriage, protection by law, freedom to
contract, trial by jury, and the like.
- These rights are capable of being
enforced or redressed in a civil court.
• What is a waiver?
- Is the intentional or voluntary
relinquishment of a known right
- The voluntary surrender of a known
right, conduct supporting an inference
that a particular right has been
relinquished.
Example:
- Right to vote
(can be waived by not voting)
- Right to minimum wage
(cannot be waived)
• What are the requirements for a
valid waiver?
1) Existence of a right
2) Knowledge of the existence
3) Intention to relinquish such right
• What are the kinds of repeal?
- Article 7. Laws are repealed only by
subsequent ones, and their violation or
non-observance shall not be excused by
disuse, or custom or practice to the
contrary.
When the courts declared a law to be
inconsistent with the Constitution, the
former shall be void and the latter shall
govern.
Administrative or executive acts, orders
and regulations shall be valid only when
they are not contrary to the laws or the
Constitution. (5a)
a) Express - by direct act of Congress
- when the repealing law provides for a
provision or a repealing clause explicitly
stating that a particular existing law or a
part of law is thereby repealed.
- one where it literally states that it
repeals a certain provision or section of
a law or the whole statute itself.
b) Implied - there is no specific express
repealing clause
- when there is no repealing clause in
the repealing law, but the prior law and
the subsequent law could not reconcile
being substantially inconsistent with one
another.
- the repeal exists where a statute of
later date clearly reveals an intention on
the part of the legislature to abrogate a
prior act on the subject.
*the past law is inconsistent with the
new law
*Only a law can repeal another law
- removal or reversal of a law
• Discuss Article 8 of the Civil Code
- Article 8. Judicial decisions applying
or interpreting the laws or the
Constitution shall form a part of the legal
system of the Philippines.
- This is a new provision taken from
common law. Under the civil law
tradition, the court merely applies the
law. However, since the Philippine legal
system is a combination of civil and
common law, courts apply statutes as
well as resort to the doctrine of
precedent.
• What is the doctrine of stare
decisis?
- Enjoins adherence to judicial
precedents
- Requires our courts to follow rule
already established in a final decision of
the Supreme Court
- Based on a principle that once a
question of law has been examined and
decided, it should be deemed settled
and closed to further argument.
Ratio Decidendi - reasoning or principle
upon which a case is based
- reason for decision
Obiter Dictum - opinion expressed by a
court upon some question of law which
is not necessary to the decision of the
case before it
- Basically, it is a bar to any attempt to
relitigate the same issues, necessary for
two simple reasons: economy and
stability.
• Discuss Article 9 of the Civil Code
- Article 9. No judge or court shall
decline to render judgment by reason of
the silence, obscurity or insufficiency of
the laws.
*Either you GRANT or DISMISS a case
• Discuss Article 10 of the Civil Code
- Article 10. In case of doubt in the
interpretation or application of laws, it is
presumed that the lawmaking body
intended right and justice to prevail.
• Discuss Article 15 of the Civil Code
- Article 15. Laws relating to family
rights and duties, or to the status,
condition and legal capacity of persons
are binding upon citizens of the
Philippines, even though living abroad
• What is the nationality principle?
- Recognizes that a sovereign can adopt
criminal laws which govern the conduct
of the sovereign’s nationals while
outside of the sovereign’s borders.
Under this principle, for example, a
sovereign can make it a crime for it
nationals to engage in sexual relations
with minors while outside of its borders
or to pay bribes outside of its borders to
public officials of other sovereign.
*Determines the law surrounding itself
• What are the kinds of persons?
a) Natural Person - an individual human
being, as opposed to a legal person,
which may be a private of public
organization.
*Due to the intervention of parents
- Article 40 : birth determines
personality; but the conceived child shall
be considered born for all purposes that
are favorable to it, provided it be born
later with the conditions specified in the
following article.
- Article 41 : For civil purposes, the fetus
is considered born if it is alive at the
time it is completely delivered from the
mother’s womb. However, if the fetus
had an intrauterine life of less than
seven months, it is not deemed born if it
dies within twenty-four hours after its
complete delivery from the maternal
womb.
The effect of death upon the rights and
obligations of the deceased is
determined by law, by contract and by
will. (32a)
- Article 43 : If there is a doubt, as
between two or more persons who are
called to succeed each other, as to
which of them died first, whoever
alleges the death of one prior to the
other, shall prove the same; in the
absence of proof, it is presumed that
they died at the same time and there
shall be no transmission of rights from
one to the other.
b) Juridical Person - a non-human legal
entity, in other words, any organization
that is not a single natural person but is
authorized by law with duties and rights
recognized as a legal person and as
having distinct identity,
- Article 44 : The following are juridical
persons:
(1) The State and its political
subdivisions;
(2) Other corporations, institutions and
entities for public interest or purpose,
created by law; their personality begins
as soon as they have been constituted
according to law;
(3) Corporations, partnerships and
associations for private interest or
purpose to which the law grants a
juridical personality, separate and
distinct from that of each shareholder,
partner or member. (35a)
- Article 45 : Juridical persons
mentioned in Nos. 1 and 2 of the
preceding article are governed by the
laws creating or recognizing them.
Private corporations are regulated by
laws of general application on the
subject.
Partnerships and associations for
private interest or purpose are governed
by the provisions of this Code
concerning partnerships. (36 and 37a)
- Article 46 : Juridical persons may
acquire and possess property of all
kinds, as well as incur obligations and
bring civil or criminal actions, in
conformity with the laws and regulations
of their organization. (38a)
- Article 47 : Upon the dissolution of
corporations, institutions and other
entities for public interest or purpose
mentioned in No. 2 of Article 44, their
property and other assets shall be
disposed of in pursuance of law or the
charter creating them. If nothing has
been specified on this point, the
property and other assets shall be
applied to similar purposes for the
benefit of the region, province, city or
municipality which during the existence
of the institution derived the principal
benefits from the same.
• What is marriage?
- ARTICLE 1. Marriage is a special
contract of permanent union between a
man and a woman entered into in
accordance with law for the
establishment of conjugal and family life.
It is the foundation of the family and an
inviolable social institution whose
nature, consequences, and incidents
are governed by law and not subject to
stipulation, except that marriage
settlements may fix the property
relations during the marriage within the
limits provided by this Code. (52a)
What makes it different from other
contract or agreement?
- Governing law
- The parties cannot terminate their
agreement
• Who may contract marriage?
- ARTICLE 5. Any male or female of the
age of eighteen years or upwards not
under any of the impediments
mentioned in Articles 37 and 38, may
contract marriage. (54a)
• What are the essential requisites of
marriage?
- ARTICLE 2. No marriage shall be
valid, unless these essential requisites
are present:
(1) Legal capacity of the contracting
parties who must be a male and a
female; and
(2) Consent freely given in the presence
of the solemnizing officer. (53a)
(in good faith)
(3) Authority of the person performing
the marriage; and
(4) A marriage license, except in a
marriage of exceptional character
• What are the formal requisites of
marriage?
- ARTICLE 3. The formal requisites of
marriage are:
(1) Authority of the solemnizing officer;
(2) A valid marriage license except in
the cases provided for in Chapter 2 of
this Title; and
(3) A marriage ceremony which takes
place with the appearance of the
contracting parties before the
solemnizing officer and their personal
declaration that they take each other as
husband and wife in the presence of not
less than two witnesses of legal age.
• Discuss Article 6 of the Family Code
- ARTICLE 6. No prescribed form or
religious rite for the solemnization of the
marriage is required. It shall be
necessary, however, for the contracting
parties to appear personally before the
solemnizing officer and declare in the
presence of not less than two witnesses
of legal age that they take each other as
husband and wife. This declaration shall
be contained in the marriage certificate
which shall be signed by the contracting
parties and their witnesses and attested
by the solemnizing officer. In case of a
marriage in articulo mortis, when the
party at the point of death is unable to
sign the marriage certificate, it shall be
sufficient for one of the witnesses to
the marriage to write the name of said
party, which fact shall be attested by the
solemnizing officer. (55a)
• Discuss Article 7 of the Family Code
- ARTICLE 7. Marriage may be
solemnized by:
(1) Any incumbent member of the
judiciary within the court's jurisdiction;
(2) Any priest, rabbi, imam, or minister
of any church or religious sect duly
authorized by his church or religious
sect and registered with the civil
registrar general, acting within the limits
of the written authority granted by his
church or religious sect and provided
that at least one of the contracting
parties belongs to the solemnizing
officer's church or religious sect;
(3) Any ship captain or airplane chief
only in the case mentioned in Article 31;
(4) Any military commander of a unit to
which a chaplain is assigned, in the
absence of the latter, during a military
operation, likewise only in the cases
mentioned in Article
32;
(5) Any consul-general, consul or vice-
consul in the case provided in Article 10.
(56a)
(6) Under the Local Government Code,
Mayors (kasalang bayan)
38. (17a) Where a marriage between a
Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly
celebrated and a divorce is thereafter
validly obtained abroad by the alien
spouse capacitating him or her to
remarry, the Filipino spouse shall have
capacity to remarry under Philippine
law. (As amended by Executive Order
227)
• What is mixed marriage?
- A marriage between people of different
races or religions.

• Discuss Article 8 of the Family Code

- Article. 8. The marriage shall be
solemnized publicly in the chambers of
the judge or in open court, in the church,
chapel or temple, or in the office the
consul-general, consul or vice-consul,
as the case may be, and not elsewhere,
except in cases of marriages contracted
on the point of death or in remote places
in accordance with Article 29 of this
Code, or where both of the parties
request the solemnizing officer in writing
in which case the marriage may be
solemnized at a house or place
designated by them in a sworn
statement to that effect. (57a)

• Discuss Article 26 of the Family

Code
- ARTICLE 26. All marriages solemnized
outside the Philippines, in accordance
with the laws in force in the country
where they were solemnized, and valid
there as such, shall also be valid in this
country, except those prohibited under
Articles 35 (1), (4), (5) and (6), 3637 and