Assignment for the 4th year law students

Instruction: Digest the cases given to you last time to be submitted in April. Answer the
following questions and problems by citing the provisions of law involve as well as cite cases
applicable by writing the digest of the case/cases.

Encircle the letter corresponding to the correct answer

1. Laws take effect

a. Fifteen days following the completion of their publication in the Official Gazette.
b. Fifteen days following the completion of their publication in a newspaper of general
circulation in the Philippines.
c. Fifteen days following the completion of their publication in the Official Gazette or in a
newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines.
d. As the law provides after complete publication in the Official Gazette or in a
newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines.
1. Laws, as a general rule, have no retroactive effect . This admits of some exceptions, such
as:
a. When the law provides for its non- retroactivity.
b. When it creates a substantive right.
c. When the law is penal in nature but which is not favorable to the accused who is not a
habitual delinquent or rescidivist.
d. When it interprets its own meaning.
2. Ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance therewith. Is there an exception
to this rule?
a. Yes, because it is founded not only on expediency and policy but on necessity.
b. Yes, because it is a necessary consequence of the mandatory provision that all laws
must be published.
c. Yes, because honest mistake upon doubtful or difficult question of law could be the
basis of good faith.
d. Yes, because the public is always put on a constructive notice of the law’s existence
and effectivity.
3. Foreign law can be proved by:
a. Official publication
b. Copy attested by the officer having legal custody of the record accompanied by a
certificate that such officer has the custody
c. if the record is kept in the Philippines, an official publication and a copy attested by
the officer having legal custody of the record
d. if the record is kept in the Philippines, an official publication will suffice.
4. Which of the following rules is not correct?
a. Acts executed against the provisions of mandatory or prohibitory laws shall be void.
b. Rights maybe waived Unless the waiver is contrary to law, public order, public policy,
morals or good customs
c. Statute may lapse by its own terms
d. Repeal of a law is the judicial act of abrogating through a subsequent law the effects
of the previous statute or portions thereof

5. Judicial decisions applying or interpreting laws or the Constitution shall form part of the
legal system of the Philippines. Are judicial decisions independent sources of laws?
 a. Yes. The principal function of courts is not only resolving legal controversies but also
of interpreting and construing vague provisions of law relative to a particular
dispute.
a. Yes. Judicial decision applying and interpreting the law shall form part of the legal
system of the Philippines.
b. Yes. Judicial decisions, although in themselves not laws, assume the same authority
as the statute itself and, until authoritatively abandoned, necessarily become, to the
extent that they are applicable.
c. Yes. The application and interpretation placed by the legislative upon a law is part of
the law as of the date of the enactment of the said law.

6. 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. Which of the
following is not correct?

a. The trend going on in other countries or states where persons of the same sex can
be married is followed here in the Philippines.
b. Marriage is an inviolable social institution, it is the foundation of the family and
shall be protected by the State.
c. A man and a woman deporting themselves as husband and wife are disputably
presumed to have entered into a lawful contract of marriage.
d. The state recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and
strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution.

7. One requisite Article 2 lays down for a valid marriage is that the contracting parties must
have the legal capacity to enter into marriage. What thing or things should each contracting
party have to be able to marry? Which one is not correct?

a. Art. 5 and Art. 35(1) which state the minimum marriageable age, 18 years old for
both man and woman.
b. Art. 13 and Art. 41 which require that the contracting parties are not married.
c. Art. 39 where a party has to have a final judicial decree declaring his previous
marriage null and void from the beginning to be able to remarry.
d. Art. 53 in relation to Art. 52, where a party, whose previous marriage was either
annulled or declared a nullity, has to comply with Art. 52 to have the legal capacity
to remarry.

8. The following marriages shall be void from the beginning for reasons of public
policy except one.

a. Between collateral blood relatives, whether legitimate or illegitimate, up

to the fourth civil degree;
b. Between step-parents and step-children.
c. Between parents-in-law and children-in-law.
d. Between ascendants and descendants of any degree.

9. Under Art. 7(2), a priest, rabbi, imam, or minister of any church or religious sect can
solemnize marriage provided that:
a. He is duly authorized by his church or religious sect.
b. He is registered with the civil registrar general.
c. He is acting within the limits of the written authority granted him by his church or
religious sect.
d. Provided that both of the contracting parties belongs to the solemnizing officer’s
church or religious sect.
 10. Jose and Juana are husband and wife. Troy is the son of Juana while Susie is the daughter of
Jose. Troy and Susie were separated from birth. Their paths crossed for the first time when
both are in college, and the unimaginable happened, they got married. Afterwards, Josenito
was born from Troy and Susie.
a) Josenito is legitimate
b) Josenito is illegitimate
c) Josenito is legitimated
d) None of the above

12. The owner of a parcel of land is the owner of its surface and of everything under it.
a. He can construct thereon any works
b. He can make any plantations and excavations
c. He can refuse any servitudes thereto
d. he cannot complain of the reasonable requirements of aerial navigation.

13. Hidden treasure belongs to the owner of the land, building, or other property on which it is
found. As such:
a. Any person who is in possession of the property shall own the treasure.
b. if the finder is a is a squatter, to him belongs ½ of the treasure.
c. If the things found be of interest to science or the arts, the State may acquire the
same.
d. If the discovery is made on the property of the State, ½ of which belongs to the
finder

14. The ownership of a property gives the right by accession to everything which is produced
thereby, or which is incorporated or attached thereto. The doctrine of accession rests on the
following principles except one:
a. That to the owner of a thing belongs the extension or increase of such thing.
b. That this extension of the right of ownership is realized, as a general rule, under
the juridical principle that the accessory follows the principal.
c. That the incorporation of the accessory with the principal is effected only when
two things are so united that they cannot be separated without injuring or
destroying the juridical nature of one of them.
d. That the owner of the accessory extends his ownership to the principal.

15. Whenever the current of a river, creek or torrent segregates from an estate on its bank a
known portion of land and transfer it to another estate, the owner of the land to which the
segregated portion belonged retains the ownership of it, provided that he reclaims the same in
two years.
a. No right to remove the same can be recognized in anyone if the land transferred is a
compact mass.
b. The portion of land must be such that it can be identified as coming from a
definite tenement.
c. Although the deposit of the land or soil, which cannot be identified, cannot be
considered alluvion, yet the ownership must be vested in the owner of the land to
which they have been transferred by the current, following the general rule of
accession.
d. If the area of the land is reduced through gradual erosion due to to changes in
the course of the adjoining stream, the owner is not protected.

16. One who in good faith employs the material of another in whole or in part in order to make
a thing of different kind, shall appropriate the thing thus transformed as his own, indemnifying
the owner of the material for its value. Which is correct?
a. In this kind of accession, it is not possible to separate the material that has been used
and the form, creation or work which has been employed upon or given to it.
 b. The transformation must be made personally by the one who makes use of the
materials.
c. If made in bad faith, owner of the materials cannot appropriate the work but he can
demand indemnity.
d. The industry or work is considered as the principal if the new material becomes
valuable.

17. Each co-owner may use the thing owned in common, provided he does so in accordance
with the purpose for which it is intended and in such a way as not to injure the interest of the
co-ownership or prevent the other co-owners from using it according to their rights. The
following are the limitations except one:
a. thing must be used for which it is intended
b. without prejudice to the interest of the co-ownership
c.cannot prevent other co-owners from making use thereof according to their own
rights
d. agreement may not be changed either express or implied.

18 .What are the modes of transferring ownership?

a. Law and tradition, testate and intestate succession
b. Donation and tradition and testate and intestate succession
c. Testate and intestate succession
d. Testate and intestate succession, law, tradition and donation
19. Succession is defined as
a. Mode of acquisition of ownership
b. Transfer of property, rights and obligations to the extent of the value of the
inheritance of a person
c. Transmission thru death
d. Transmission of ownership of property, rights and obligation to another by will
or by operation of law
20. The general rule is that all obligations are transmissible except those purely personal
in nature and those made non-transferable by law. Which of the following falls
under the general rule?
a. personal rights because of their nature ( family rights, marital and parental authority,
support, action for legal separation, partnership, agency, life annuity);
b. Right to claim acknowledgment or recognition as a natural child
c. Right to hold public or private office
d. Right to bring or continue an action for forcible entry or unlawful detainer.
21. Rights to succession are transmitted
a. From the moment of the death of the decedent
b. when heirs become owners when properties are delivered to them
c. from the time of Both acceptance and repudiation by the heirs
d. at the time of the opening of sucession
22. If the absentee appears, or without appearing his existence is proved
a. he shall recover his property in the condition in which it may be found, and the
price of any property that may have been alienated or the property acquired
therewith
b. he can claim either fruits or rent
c. an heir can sell his share in the estate even pending its liquidation, for here the
inheritance is already presenta
 d. any property or right not yet in existence or not yet capable of determination at
the time the contract is made which a person may acquire by succession.
23. Which is not correct? An heir is
a. called to the succession by will or by operation of law
b. one who succeeds by universal title or to all or a fraction or aliquot part of the
estate.
c. May be compulsory or voluntary.
d. is compulsory and voluntary as to legitime

24. Choose the correct proposition:

a. There are heirs in testate (compulsory heirs) and intestate (legal or intestate heirs)
succession. Legatees and devisees can inherit also in intestate succession
b. In preterition, an instituted heir gets nothing, while a legatee or devisee gets
property given to him as long as legitime is not impaired.
c. In a will, a compulsory heir may not be given other than his legitime.He is a
compulsory heir with respect to the legitime. He is a voluntary heir with respect to
the excess.
d. If a compulsory heir dies ahead of the testator, his legitime goes to his child by
representation just as the child of a voluntary heir who predeceases the testator.
25. A will is strictly personal
a. Preparation of which can be left in whole or in part to the discretion of third person.
b. Duration or efficiency of designation of heirs, devisees, or legatees or the portions
given to them, cannot be left to the discretion of a third person.
c. Testators may not entrust to a third person the distribution of specific property or
sums of money left to a specified class or cause and the designation of persons,
institutions, and establishments to which property or money to be given
d. It is a free and voluntary act as well as a formal and solemn act too
26. What is a testamentary power?

a.It is the statutory right to dispose of property by acts effective mortis causa.
b. It is the right to make a will provided certain conditions are complied with
c. It is where the testator is not prohibited by law to make a will
d. Provided the testator is at least 18 years of age; and (3) testator is of sound
mind.
27. To be of sound mind:
a. it is not necessary that the testator be in possession of all his reasoning faculties
or that his mind be wholly unbroken, unimpaired, or unshattered by disease,
injury or other cause.
b. It is not sufficient if the testator was able at the time of making the will, to know
the nature of the estate to be disposed of, the proper objects of his bounty, and
the character of the testamentary act.
c. The law does not presume that a person is of sound mind in the absence of the
contrary.
d. The burden of proof that the testator was not of sound mind at the time of
making his disposition is on the person who opposes the probate of the will; but
if the testator, one month, or les, before making his will was publicly known to
be insane, the person who maintains the validity of the will must not prove that
the testator made it during a lucid interval.
28. Who can make a will?
a. Those not expressly allowed by law.
b. Juridical persons and convicts under civil interdiction
c. Those 18 years of age,of sound of mind who knows the nature of the estate to be
distributed, the proper objects of his bounty and the character of the testamentary
act.
d. Those who can also be witnesses to wills.
29. Who may be witnesses in a will? (Art. 820)
a. Those of sound mind. Those who are at least 18 years of age; Those who are
not blind, not deaf or dumb; Those who are able to read and write.
b. Those who are not domiciled in the Philippines;
c. Those who have been convicted of falsification of document, perjury or false
testimony.
d. Those who are able to read even if they cannot write
30. There are three essential facts which must necessarily appear in the attestation
clause in order that it will constitute a real certification by the instrumental
witnesses that the formalities required by law in the execution of an ordinary will
have been complied with. These facts, all of which are essential in character, are as
follows except:
a. The number of pages used upon which the will is written;
b. The fact that the testator signed the will and every page thereof, or caused
some other person to write his name, under his express direction, in the
presence of the instrumental witnesses; and
c. The fact that the instrumental witnesses witnessed and signed the will and all
the pages thereof in the presence of the testator and of one another.
d. The fact that the attestation clause is a record or memorandum of fact

31. Which is the correct proposition? A will

a. If executed by a Filipino can be in any form established in the country where he
may be at the time of death
b. If executed by an alien, it may be executed in accordance with Lex domicilii ,Lex
nationalii,Philippine Law, Lex loci celebrationis.
c. If executed in a foreign country by a foreigner, then, its formal validity is either
governed by the law of the place where the will is made.
d. If executed in the Philippines, then its formal validity is governed by the Civil Code;

32. In two separate contracts for the sale of two lots in a subdivision to the same buyer,
who defaulted in both contracts but where the total payment could cover one lot,
the seller was ordered to execute one absolute deed of sale to cover one lot. what
was applied by the Hon. Supreme Court?

a. Contracts have the force of law between the contracting parties, and they are
bound not only to the fulfillment of what might have been stipulated but also to
its consequences.

b. A failure of due compliance by a party to a contract renders him liable for causes
attributable to him; upon the other hand, if the non-fulfillment is brought about
by circumstances beyond his control, then he may not be held responsible
therefore
 c. Courts may not substitute their own judgment for that of the parties, and
neither may the Courts modify the agreement of said parties without thereby
violating, among other principles, the rule on consensuality of contracts.

d. Equity is broadly defined as being justice according to natural law and right.
Article 10 of the Civil Code expresses that “in case of doubt in the interpretation
and application of laws, it is presumed that the lawmaking body intended right
and justice to prevail. This is what was applied in the case.

33. As a matter of equity, a possessor in bad faith is entitled to remove useful

expenditures made by him, such as for the construction of la bungalow,
underground drainage and walled fence, if the lawful possessor, on whose land the
construction and installation are made, fails to refund the expenses therefore,
applying by analogy the provisions of Article 549 of the Civil Code on luxury
expenditures. Which is not applicable in this case?

a. The ruling appears to have ignored Article 449 of the Code which explicitly
states that he “who builds, plants, or sows in bad faith on the land of another,
loses what is built, planted or sown without right to indemnity

b. The ruling appears to have ignored Article 449 of the Code which explicitly
states that he “who builds, plants, or sows in bad faith on the land of another,
loses what is built, planted or sown without right to indemnity”

c. . Some of the statutory provisions that could be invoked by said buyer include
Article 1191 on resolution of contracts, articles 1545 and 1553-1556 on implied
warranties in sales, and articles 1916-1917 on agency, of the Civil Code.

d. The correct rule seems to be that where conflict situations are well defined and
capable of being resolved by the application of legal principles, the latter must
not be permitted to be overridden by, or unsettled in equity. It is in this context
that Article 10 of the Civil Code should be understood when it expresses that “in
case of doubt in the interpretation and application of laws, it is to be presumed
that the lawmaking body intended right and justice to prevail.

34. One who purchases real property with knowledge of defect or lack of title of the
vendor or of facts that should have put him to inquiry is not in good faith; and not
being so, the vendee is not entitled to warranty against eviction nor to damages.
Which is not correct?

a. Mere knowledge by the vendee of the defect of title of the vendor (who need
not even have title at the time of perfection of the contract) does not render the
vendor’s implied warranties to become ineffectual. Even a waiver of eviction
does not totally exempt the vendor from liability and he would still have to
account for the value of the thing at the time of eviction.

b. It is only a waiver with knowledge of the risk of eviction and assumption of its
consequences (intencionada, as distinguished from consciente) that may
altogether exempt the vendee from liability

c. If it were not declared void, the buyer of the defective sale would have had
ample legal remedies against the seller.
 d. Court has said that it may, in the exercise of equity jurisdiction, adjust the rights
of the parties in accordance with the circumstances obtaining upon the
rendition of the judgment when the standing of the parties have so changed by
the long pendency of their dispute that renders it iniquitous to adhere to the
rights and obligations of the parties accruing at the time of their generation.

35. It is utterly unfair to require a bank not allowed to operate by the Central Bank to
pay stipulated interest on money deposited with it. Judicial notice may be taken of
the fact that what enables a bank to pay such interest is its ability to generate funds
from its authorized operations. As a matter of equity, the situation can be
denominated as force majeure. Which does not support this ruling?

a. Fortuitous event, by itself, is not to be normally or lightly taken as a mode of

extinguishing an obligation but it may trigger off or cause a valid mode that
ordinarily can excuse the obligor from an existing obligation

b. In an obligation to give, if the thing is lost, or in an obligation to do, if the act or

service becomes impossible or so extremely difficult as to be beyond the
contemplation of the parties, due to a fortuitous event, the obligor’s obligation
may be extinguished.

c. In the cited case, the obligation is one to pay the stipulated interest, and the
object (money) of the obligation being generic, loss as a mode of extinguishing
an obligation would be inapplicable under the principles genus nunquam perit

d. That unforeseen difficulties are not grounds for reneging upon a contract.