LINO ARTATES and MANUELA POJAS, plaintiffs-appellants, vs. DANIEL URBI et al.

, defendant-
appellee. G.R. No. L-18536 March 31, 1965
FACTS: Spouses Lino Artates and Manuela Pojas sought annulment of the execution of a
homestead, and duly registered in their names (OCT No. P-572). The public sale was made to
satisfy a judgment against Lino Artates in the amount of P1,476.35, and awarded to Daniel Urbi
by the Justice of the Peace Court of Camilaniugan, Cagayan for physical injuries inflicted by
Artates upon Urbi on 21 October 1955. In their complaint, the plaintiff spouses alleged that the
sale of the homestead to satisfy an indebtedness of Lino Artates, violated the provision of the
Public Land law exempting said property from execution for any debt contracted within five
years from the date of the issuance of the patent.
ISSUE/S: Whether or not the appellant spouses Artates and Pojas possess absolute ownership
over the homestead which is covered by a patent.
RULING: Yes. The Court reversed the appealed decision and appellants are declared entitled to
the return and possession of the lot covered by Original Certificate of Title No. P-572, without
prejudice to their continuing obligation to pay the judgment debt, and expenses connected
therewith. The Court highlighted that for purposes of complying with the law, it is immaterial
that the satisfaction of the debt by the encumbrance or alienation of the land grant made
voluntarily, as in the case of an ordinary sale, or involuntarily, such as that effected through a
levy on the property and consequent sale at public auction. In both instances, the spirit of the
law would have been violated. It is a rule in Statutory Construction, a general rule that where
local statutes are patterned after or copied from those of another country, the decisions of
the courts in such country construing those laws are entitled to great weight in the
interpretation of such local statutes. The reason is that the legislature, in adopting from
another country a statute that has previously received judicial construction in that country, is
deemed to have adopted the statute with such construction and practical application in the
country of origin. The adopted statutes are thus generally construed in accordance with the
construction given similar statutes in the US, unless special reasons, local customs, and
practice require otherwise. The Court emphasized that our public land laws being copied from
American legislation, resort to American precedents reveals that, under the weight of authority,
exemption from "debts contracted" by a homesteader has been held to include freedom from
money liabilities