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PRELIMINARY CHAPTER AND HUMAN RELATIONS

Q. What is Civil Law?

ANS. It is that branch of the law that generally treats of the personal and family relations of an individual, his property and successional rights, and the effects of his obligations and contracts.

It is that mass of precepts that determine and regulate the relations of assistance, authority and obedience among members of a family, and those which exist among members of a society for the protection of private interests, (1 Sanchez Roman, Estudios de Derecho Civil, p. 70, citing Arribas), family relations, and property rights. (1 Falcon 9; cited in Paras, Civil Code of the Phils. Annotated, Vol. I, 1989 Ed., pp. 4-5).

Q. What is a Civil Code?

ANS. It is a compilation of existing civil laws, scienti cally arranged into books, titles, chapters, and sub-heads and promulgated by legislative authority. (Black’s Law Dictionary, p. 334).

Q. When do laws take effect?

ANS. Laws shall take effect after fteen days following the completion of their publication in the Of cial Gazette, or in a newspaper of general circulation, unless the law otherwise provides. (Art. 2, NCC, as amended by E.O. No. 200).

Q. A law was passed providing for its immediate effec-tivity. Does this mean that its immediate effectivity provision would dispense with the publication re-quirement? Why?

CIVIL LAW REVIEWER2

ANS. No. In the case of Tañada vs. Tuvera, 136 SCRA 27, the Supreme Court said that an immediate effectivity clause does not preclude the requirement of publication since the clear object of the law is to give the general public adequate notice of the various laws which are to regulate their conduct and actions as citizens. Without such notice and publication, there would be no cause for the application of the maxim “ignorantia legis non excusat.” It would be the height of injustice to punish or otherwise burden a citizen for the transgression of a law which he had no notice of.

Q. May the 15-day period of publication be reduced or extended?

ANS. Yes. Publication is indispensable in every case, but the legislature may, in its discretion, provide that the usual 15-day period be shortened or extended. For example, the Civil Code did not become effective after fteen (15) days from its publication in the Of cial Gazette but “one year” after its publication. (Tañada vs. Tuvera, supra.).

Q. May the publication of a law before its effectivity be dispensed with? Why?

ANS. No. The publication clause cannot be dispensed with. The omission would offend due process insofar as it denies the public knowledge of the laws that are supposed to govern it. If the legislature could validly provide that a law shall become effective immediately upon its approval even if it is not published (or after an unreasonably short time after publication), persons not aware of it would be prejudiced. They could be so, not because they failed to comply with it, but simply because they did not know that it exists. This is true not only of penal laws but also of non-penal laws, like a law on prescription which must also be communicated to the persons they may affect before they can begin to operate. (Tañada vs. Tuvera, supra.).

Q. What does the law requiring publication of laws com-prehend?

ANS. The law comprehends all statutes, including those of local application and private laws which should be published as a condition for their effectivity and shall begin fteen (15)

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days after publication, unless the legislature xes a different effectivity date.

Covered by these rules are presidential decrees and executive orders promulgated by the President in the exercise of legislative powers, whenever the same are validly delegated by the legislature, or, at present, directly conferred by the Constitution. Administrative rules and regulations must also be published if their purpose is to enforce or implement existing laws pursuant also to a valid delegation.

Interpretative regulations and those merely internal, i.e., those that regulate only the administrative agency’s person-nel and not the public, need not be published; neither are the so-called letters of instruction issued by administrative superiors concerning their duties. (Tañada vs. Tuvera, su-pra.).

The law, however, does not include decisions of the Supreme Court because lawyers in the active law practice must keep abreast of decisions, particularly where issues have been clari ed, consistently reiterated and published in advanced reports and the SCRA. (De Roy vs. CA, G.R. No. 80718, January 29, 1988).

Q. Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC), a body organized to regulate international trading issued Administrative Order No. SOCPEC 89-08-01 under which, applications to the PITC for importation from the People’s Republic of China (PROC) must be accompanied by a viable and con rmed Export Program of Philippine Products to PROC carried out by the importer himself or through a tie-up with a legitimate importer in an amount equivalent to the value of the importation applied for. Remington, Inc.’s application for importation was withheld for failure to comply with the undertaking to submit export credits equivalent to the value of the importations, hence, it questioned the validity of the Order as it was not published in the Of cial Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation. Is the contention correct? Why?

ANS. Yes. The Administrative Order which was not published in the Of cial Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER AND HUMAN RELATIONS

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my late parents, Andres Albano and Guillerma Soriano and to my wife, Lilian and children Jonjon, Myla and Vinci (who are now all lawyers and co-authors of this book) all of whom inspired me to write this book. To my grandchildren, Shon-shon and Carl, this work is likewise dedicated.

Judge Ed Vincent S. Albano

To my wife Sheila and to my precious boy Sean Vincent, this work is lovingly dedicated.

Atty. Ed Vincent A. Albano Jr.

I dedicate this work to my husband Carlo who’s ever tolerable of me, and to our little angel Carl Vincent.

Atty. Myla Khristabelle A. Pua

To my family and friends who have helped me pray to hurdle the Bar Examinations, I offer my humble contribution to this book.

Atty. Ed Vincent A. Albano III

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors owe the completion of this work to the people who unselfi shly extended their much needed help in putting this book together. We wish to thank them here, however unembellished it may be.

Linda Joya for providing advance sheets of Supreme Court de-cisions cited in this book.

Nova Marie M. Estabillo, my assistant in the College of Law, for industriously proofreading the manuscript of this book.

Crystal G. Perez, my secretary in the law offi ce, for tirelessly encoding the manuscript of this book.

Anton A. Arciaga, our clerk in the College of Law, for diligently running errands during the revision of this book.

The Authors

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PREFACE

This book was prepared with the intention of making the sub-ject easier for the students to understand the same. It is the author’s belief that the reviewee must easily understand the complicated as-pects of the law; hence, the simplicity of this work.

This book contains important provisions of the law and doctri-nal decisions up to 2007, designed to prepare the reviewee for the Bar Examinations.

The author wishes to convey his heartfelt thanks to all his friends for encouraging him to write the book.

ED VINCENT S. ALBANO

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER AND HUMAN RELATIONS ................................................... 1 Human Relations ............................................................ 24 Natural Persons .............................................................. 54 Civil Personality ............................................................. 55

FAMILY CODE ....................................................................... 59 Marriage ......................................................................... 59 Legal Separation ............................................................ 102 Rights and Obligations Between Husband and Wife ................................................................. 112 Property Relations Between Husband and Wife .......... 114 Donations By Reason of Marriage ................................. 115 System of Absolute Community .................................... 119 Conjugal Partnership of Gains ...................................... 132 Separation of Property of the Spouses and Administration of Common Property by One Spouse During the Marriage .................... 144 Regime of Separation of Property .................................. 148 Property Regime of Unions Without Marriage ............. 149 The Family ...................................................................... 155 The Family Home ........................................................... 158 Paternity and Filiation .................................................. 163 Legitimation ................................................................... 193 Adoption .......................................................................... 196 Parental Authority ......................................................... 215 Suspension or Termination of Parental Authority ........ 233 Surnames ........................................................................ 239 Presumption of Death .................................................... 242 Civil Register .................................................................. 244

PROPERTY ............................................................................. 253

Classifi cation of Properties ............................................ 253 Accession ......................................................................... 259 Quieting of Title ............................................................. 284

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Co-ownership .................................................................. 287 Possession ....................................................................... 304 Usufruct .......................................................................... 311 Easement ........................................................................ 317 Nuisance ......................................................................... 337 Donations ........................................................................ 343

WILLS AND SUCCESSION .................................................. 370

Disinheritance ................................................................ 437 Legal or Intestate Succession ........................................ 441 Right of Representation ................................................. 445 Acceptance and Repudiation of Inheritance ................. 452 Collation .......................................................................... 453

PRESCRIPTION ..................................................................... 459

Acquisitive Prescription ................................................. 464 Extinctive Prescription .................................................. 468

OBLIGATIONS AND CONTRACTS ..................................... 472

Nature and Effects of Obligations ................................. 472 Kinds of Obligations ....................................................... 488 Pure and Conditional Obligations ................................. 488 Obligations with a Period .............................................. 493 Alternative Obligations .................................................. 500 Joint and Solidary Obligations ...................................... 501 Obligations with a Penal Clause ................................... 508 Extinguishment of Obligations ...................................... 513 Payment or Performance ............................................... 514 Loss of the Thing Due .................................................... 531 Compensation ................................................................. 533 Novation .......................................................................... 534 Condonation or Remission of the Debt .......................... 548 Contracts ......................................................................... 549 Essential Requisites of Contracts .................................. 565 Object of Contracts ......................................................... 573 Cause of Contracts ......................................................... 574 Form of Contracts ........................................................... 576 Reformation of Instruments .......................................... 578 Rescissible Contracts ..................................................... 584 Voidable Contracts ......................................................... 593 Unenforceable Contracts ................................................ 596 Void Contracts ................................................................ 603 Natural Obligations ....................................................... 610 Estoppel .......................................................................... 611 Trusts .............................................................................. 616

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SALES ..................................................................................... 633

Obligations of the Vendee .............................................. 708

ASSIGNMENT OF CREDITS ................................................. 744

LEASE ..................................................................................... 747

COMMON CARRIERS ........................................................... 787

Safety of Passengers ....................................................... 803

PARTNERSHIP ...................................................................... 814

Dissolution and Winding Up .......................................... 829 Limited Partnership ....................................................... 834

AGENCY ................................................................................. 836

LOAN ....................................................................................... 869

Commodatum ................................................................. 870

DEPOSIT ................................................................................. 891

Necessary Deposit .......................................................... 898 Aleatory Contracts ......................................................... 903

COMPROMISES ..................................................................... 904

GAMBLING ............................................................................. 913

GUARANTY AND SURETY .................................................. 915

Effects of Guaranty ........................................................ 925

Antichresis ...................................................................... 938

NEGOTIORUM GESTIO ....................................................... 941

Solutio Indebiti ............................................................... 944

PLEDGE AND MORTGAGE .................................................. 947

Mortgages ....................................................................... 957

QUASI-DELICTS .................................................................... 964

DAMAGES .............................................................................. 1025

Moral Damages ............................................................... 1035 Nominal Damages .......................................................... 1057 Temperate or Moderate Damages ................................. 1058 Liquidated Damages ...................................................... 1060 Exemplary Damages ...................................................... 1061 Preference and Concurrence of Credits .......................... 1069

LAND REGISTRATION ......................................................... 1074

Torrens Title, Conveyances, and Others ....................... 1074 Procedure in Land Registration .................................... 1095