Persons and Family Relations Reviewer Vena V.

Verga PERSONS AND FAMILY RELATIONS REVIEWER PERSONS AND FAMILY RELATIONS REVIEWER CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES (R.A. 386) Art 1. This Act shall be known as the Civil Code of the Philippines E.O. 48 of March 20, 1947 Roxas Code Commission Dr. George Bacobo (chairman) January 26, 1949 (passed by Congress) Art. 2. Laws shall take effect after 15 days following the completion of their publication in the Official Gazette, unless it is otherwise provided. This Code shall take effect 1 year after publication. Aug. 30, 1950 (took effect) EO 200 (Aquino) laws to be effective must be published either in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation in the country. (Taada v Tuverapublication not to be in Official Gazette because of its erratic release and limited readership)

Intended to enable people to become familiar with the statute Must be in full Publication is an indispensable requirement, absence of which will render the law ineffective. unless otherwise provided (refers to 15day period, not publication Art. 3. Ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance therewith. applies only to mandatory and prohibitory laws Art. 4. Laws shall have no retroactive effect, unless the contrary is provided Law looks to the future. Instances when a law may be given aretroac tive effect: o When the law expressly provides for retroactivity (insofar as it does not prejudice or impair vested or acquired rights in accordance with the Civil Code or other laws) o

Curative or remedial (curing defects or adding to the means of enforcing existing obligations). RULE: If the irregularity consists in doing some act, or doing it in the mode which the legislature might have made material by an express law, it may do so by a subsequent one. o Procedural. (to avoid possible injustice) o Penal in character and favorable to the accused. (not a habitual delinquent if w/in 10 years from date of release or last conviction of a crime, he is found guilty of any said crimes a third time or oftener.) Art. 5. Acts executed against the provisions of mandatory and prohibitory laws shall be void, except when the law itself authorizes their validity. Mandatory Lawsomission of which renders the proceeding or acts to which it relates generally illegal or void. Example: prescriptive periods Prohibitory Lawscontain positive prohibitions and are couched in the negative terms importing that the act required shall not be done otherwise than designated. Example: NO However, if the law expressly provides for the validity of acts committed in violation of a mandatory

or prohibitory provision of a statute, such act shall be considered valid or enforceable. Art. 6. Rights may be waived, unless the waiver is contrary to law, public policy, morals or good customs, or prejudicial to a third person with a right recognized by law. Waiver intentional relinquishment of a known right; not presumed but must be clearly and convincingly shown, either by express stipulation or acts admitting no other reasonable explanation A right to be validly waived, must be in existence at the time of the waiver, and must be exercised by a duly capacitated person actually possessing the right to make the waiver. (presupposes that the party has knowledge of its rights, but chooses not to assert them)

Art. 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 declare 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. Repeal legislative act of abrogating through a subsequent law the effects of a previous statute or portions thereof. May be either express or implied. Art. 8. Judicial decisions applying or interpreting the laws or the Constitution shall form part of the legal system of the Philippines. Judicial decisions o although in themselves not laws, assume the same authority as the statute itself. o Constitute evidence of what the law means. o legis interpretatio legis vim obtinet interpretation placed

upon the written law by a competent court has the force of law o SC decisions authoritative and precedent-setting o Inferior courts decisions and Court of Appeals merely persuasive o Apiag v Cantero (judge entered into2nd marriage without having his first void marriage judicially declared a nullity, not a basis for immorality) at that time, there was no need for judicial declaration of nullity o Wiegel v Sempio Dy case where the Supreme Court declared that there was a need for a declaration of nullity of a void marriage. Art. 9. No judge or court shall decline to render judgment by reason of the silence, obscurity or insufficiency of the laws. Ninguno non deue enriquecerse tortizeramente con dano de otro When the statutes are silent or ambiguous, this is one of those fundamental principles which the courts invoke in order to arrive at a solution that would respond to the vehement urge of conscience. -

Justice Holmes Do and must legislate to fill in the gaps in the law, because the mind of the legislator, like all human beings, is finite and therefore cannot envisage all possible cases to which the law may apply. Nor has the human mind the infinite capacity to anticipate all situations. Art. 10. In case of doubt in the interpretation and application of laws, it is presumed that the lawmaking body intended right and justice to prevail. Construction and interpretation come only after it has been demonstrated that application is impossible or inadequate without them. Art. 11. Customs which are contrary to law, public order or public policy shall not be countenanced. Art. 12. A custom must be proved as a fact, according to the rules of evidence. Custom rule of conduct formed by repetition of acts, uniformly observed (practiced) as a social rule, legally binding and obligatory. Juridical custom can supplement statutory law or applied in the absence of such statute. Social custom cant supplement stat law or applied in the absence of

statute. Custom, even if proven, cannot prevail over a statutory rule or even a legal rule enunciated by the SC Art. 13. When the law speaks of years, months, days or nights, it shall be understood that years are of 365 days each; months, of 30 days; days, of 24 hours; and nights from sunset to sunrise. If months are designated by their name, they shall be computed by the number of days which they respectively have. In computing a period, the first day shall be excluded, and the last day included. If the extra day in a leap year is not a day of the year, because it is the 366th day, then to what year does it belong? Certainly, it must belong to the year where it falls and, therefore, the 366 days constitute one year. Art. 14. Penal laws and those of public security and safety shall be obligatory upon all who live or sojourn in the Philippine territory, subject to the principles of public international law and to treaty stipulations. Citizens and foreigners are subject to all penal laws. Will even attach regardless whether or not a foreigner is merely sojourning in Phil territoryBUT they may however be immune from suit, and therefore, cannot be criminally prosecuted in the Philippines in certain cases where the Philippine government has waived its criminal jurisdiction

over them on the basis of the principles of public international law and treaty stipulations 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations provided that the person of the diplomatic agent shall be inviolable and he shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. He shall enjoy immunity from criminal jurisdiction of the receiving state. Art. 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. Nationality Rule Tenchavez v Escanothe only absolute divorce recognized is one of the alien spouse. Filipino spouse can be said to have committed concubinage (husband) or adultery (wife). Art. 16. Real property as well as personal property is subject to the law of the country where it is situated. However, intestate and testamentary successions, both with respect to the order of succession and to the amount of successional rights and to the intrinsic validity of testamentary provisions, shall be regulated by the national law of the person whose succession is under consideration, whatever may be the nature of the property and regardless of the country wherein said property may be found.

Applicability of National Law of decedent, in intestate or testamentary succession, with regard to: o Order of succession o Amount of successional rights o Intrinsic validity of the provisions of the will o Capacity to succeed Article 17. The forms and solemnities of contracts, wills, and other public instruments shall be governed by the laws of the country in which they are executed. When the acts referred to are executed before the diplomatic or consular officials of the Republic of the Philippines in a foreign country, the solemnities established by Philippine laws shall be observed in their execution. Prohibitive laws concerning persons, their acts or property, and those which have for their object public order, public policy and good customs shall not be rendered ineffective by laws or judgments promulgated, or by determinations or conventions agreed upon in a foreign country.Extrinsic validity if act is valid where it is executed, even if said act wont be valid here, will be deemed as valid, nonetheless. -

Diplomatic and consular officials are representatives of the state, therefore Philippine law should prevail if act is executed before a diplomat, in a foreign country. (basis: by rules of international law, host country where diplomat is assigned, waives its jurisdiction over the premises of the diplomatic office of another country located in the said host country)