E. 1. PRESUMPTION OF CAPACITY
Article 37. Juridical capacity, which is the fitness to be the subject of legal relations, is inherent in every natural person and is lost only through death. Capacity to act, which is the power to do acts with legal effect, is acquired and may be lost.
E. 2. RESTRICTIONS ON CAPACITY TO ACT Art. 38.Minority, insanity or imbecility, the state of being a deaf-mute, prodigality and civil interdiction are mere restrictions on capacity to act, and do not exempt the incapacitated person from certain obligations, as when the latter arise from his acts or from property relations, such as easements.
Art. 39. The following circumstances, among others, modify or limit capacity to act:
age, insanity, imbecility, the state of being a deaf-mute, penalty, prodigality, family relations, alienage, absence, insolvency and trusteeship. The consequences of these circumstances are governed in this Code,
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laws.
Capacity to act is not limited on account of religious belief or political opinion.
A married woman, twenty-one years of age or over, is qualified for all acts of civil life, except in cases specified by law.
General rule: Incapacitated persons are not exempt from certain obligations arising from his acts or property relations.
I. Minority
RA 6809 (1989): An act lowering the age of majority from twenty-one to eighteen years.
Effects on Contracts
(1) They cannot give consent to a contract (Art. 1327 (1))
(2) A contract where one of the parties is a minor is voidable(Art. 1390(1))
(3) A contract is unenforceable when both of the parties are minors (incapable of giving consent) (Art. 1403(3))
(4) Minority cannot be asserted by the other party in an action for annulment (Art.
1397)
(5) Not obliged to make restitution exceptinsofar as he has been benefited (Art. 1399)
(6) Minor has no right to demand the thing/price voluntarily returned by him (Art. 1426)
(7) Minor has no right to recover voluntarily paid sum or delivered thing, if consumed in good faith (Art. 1427)
(8) Must pay reasonable amount for necessaries delivered to him (Art. 1489)
Estoppel works against minors who misrepresent their ages in a contract and are compelled to comply with its terms. [Mercado vs Espiritu (1918)]
When a minor made no active misrepresentation as to his minority and such minority is known to the other party, the contract is voidable as to the minor.
[Bambalan vs Miranda (1928)]
Minors are obliged to make restitution insofar as they have been benefited (Art. 1399).
[Braganza vs Villa Abrille (1959]
Effects on Marriage
(1) May not yet contract marriage (Art. 5, FC).
(2) Marriages, where one of the parties is below 18, even with the consent of parents/guardians, are void (Art. 35, FC).
Effect on Crimes
(1) General rule: EXEMPTED from criminal liability
(2) Exception: Acted with discernment, and the minor is between 15 and 18 years of age.
II. Insanity
Insanity includes many forms of mental disease, either inherited or acquired. A person may not be insane but only mentally deficient (idiocy, imbecility, feeble-mindedness).
Effect on Contracts
(1) Incapacity to give consent to a contract (Art. 1327(2))
(2) Contracts entered into during lucid intervals are valid (Art. 1328)
(3) Restitution of benefits (Art. 1399)
(4) Voidable if one of the parties is insane (Art. 1390)
(5) Unenforceable if both of the parties are insane (Art. 1403 (3))
Effect on Crimes
(1) General rule: EXEMPTED from criminal liability
(2) Exception: Acted during lucid interval Effect on Marriage
May be annulled if either party was of unsound mind unless the such party after coming to reason, freely cohabited with the other (Art. 45(2), FC)
Action for annulment of marriage must be filed by the sane spouse who had no knowledge of the other’s insanity, or by any relative/guardian of the insane before the
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during a lucid interval or after regaining sanity (Art. 47(2), FC)
In the absence of proof that the defendant had lost his reason or became demented a few moments prior to or during the perpetration of the crime, it is presumed that he was in a normal condition of mind. It is improper to conclude that he acted unconsciously, in order to relieve him from responsibility on the ground of exceptional mental condition, unless his insanity and absence of will are proven. [USA vs Vaguilar (1914)]
Capacity to act must be supposed to attach to a person who has not previously been declared incapable, and such capacity is presumed to continue so long as the contrary be not proved, that is, that at the moment of his acting he was incapable, crazy, insane, or out his mind [Standard Oil vs Arenas (1911)]
III. Deaf-Mutism
(1) Cannot give consent to a contract if he/she also does not know how to write (Art. 1327(2), CC)
(2) Can make a valid WILL, provided: he must personally read the will. The contents of the same have either been read personally by him or otherwise communicated to him by 2 persons (Art.
807, CC)
(3) Cannot be a witness to the execution of a will (Art. 820, CC)
(4) Voidable if one of the parties is deaf-mute and does not know how to write
(5) Unenforceable if both of the parties are deaf-mutes and does not know how to write
IV. Prodigality
Incompetent includes prodigals (Rules of Court Rule 92, Sec 2)
Note: It is not the circumstance of prodigality, but the fact of being under guardianship that restricts capacity to act.
V. Civil interdiction
(1) It is an accessory penalty imposed upon persons who are sentenced to a principal penalty not lower than reclusion temporal (Art. 41, RPC).
(2) Offender is deprived of rights of parental authority, or guardianship, of marital authority, of the right to manage his property and of the right to dispose of such by any act inter vivos (Art. 34, RPC) (3) For the validity of marriage settlements,
the participation of the guardian shall be indispensable(Art. 123)
VI. Family relations
(1) Justifying circumstance if acted in defense of person/rights of spouse,
ascendants, descendants,
brothers/sisters, and other relatives up to the 4th civil degree (Art. 11(2), RPC)
(2) Mitigating circumstance if acted in the immediate vindication of a grave offense/felony committed against his spouse, ascendants or relatives of the same civil degree (Art. 13(5), RPC)
(3) Incestuous and void marriages:
• Between ascendants and descendants of any degree;
• Between brothers and sisters, whether full or half-blood. (Art. 37, FC)
(4) Donations/grants of gratuitous advantage between spouses during the marriage shall be VOID, except moderate gifts during family occasions (Art. 87, FC) (5) Prescription does not run between
spouses, parent and child, guardian and ward (Art. 1109)
(6) Descendants cannot be compelled to testifyin a criminal case, against his parents and grandparents
• UNLESS: crime was against the descendant OR by one parent against the other (Art. 215, FC)
(7) Spouses cannot sell property to each other, EXCEPT:
• Absolute separation is agreed upon in the marriage settlements
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• Judicial separation of property (Art.
1490)
(8) A suit between family members cannot prosper without any showing that earnest effort towards a compromise have been made but have failed (Art. 151, FC)
• EXCEPT: questions on civil status of persons, validity of a marriage or a legal separation, any ground for legal separation, future support, jurisdiction of courts, future legitime (Art. 2035).
VII. Alienage
Dual citizenship is different from dual allegiance. The former arises when, as a result of the concurrent application of the different laws of two or more states, a person is simultaneously considered a national by the said states. Dual allegiance, on the other hand, refers to the situation in which a person simultaneously owes, by some positive act, loyalty to two or more states. While dual citizenship is involuntary, dual allegiance is the result of an individual’s volition. For candidates with dual citizenship, it should suffice if, upon the filing of their certificates of candidacy, they elect Philippine citizenship to terminate their status as persons with dual citizenship considering that their condition is the unavoidable consequence of conflicting laws of different states. [Cordora vs COMELEC (2009)]
VIII. Absence
Art. 390. After an absence of seven years, it being unknown whether or not the absentee still lives, he shall be presumed dead for all purposes, except for those of succession.
The absentee shall not be presumed dead for the purpose of opening his succession till after an absence of ten years. If he disappeared after the age of seventy-five years, an absence of five years shall be sufficient in order that his succession may be opened.
Art. 391.The following shall be presumed dead for all purposes, including the division of the estate among the heirs:
1. A person on board a vessel lost during a sea voyage, or an aeroplane which is missing, who has not been heard of for four years since the loss of the vessel or aeroplane;
2. A person in the armed forces who has taken part in war, and has been missing for four years;
3. A person who has been in danger of death under other circumstances and his existence has not been known for four years.
Art. 41.A marriage contracted by any person during subsistence of a previous marriage shall be null and void, unless before the celebration of the subsequent marriage, the prior spouse had been absent for four consecutive years and the spouse present has a well-founded belief that the absent spouse was already dead. In case of disappearance where there is danger of death under the circumstances set forth in the provisions of Article 391 of the Civil Code, an absence of only two years shall be sufficient.
For the purpose of contracting the subsequent marriage under the preceding paragraph the spouse present must institute a summary proceeding as provided in this Code for the declaration of presumptive death of the absentee, without prejudice to the effect of reappearance of the absent spouse.
Art. 42.The subsequent marriage referred to in the preceding Article shall beautomatically terminated by the recording of the affidavit of reappearance of the absent spouse, unless there is a judgment annulling the previous marriage or declaring it void ab initio.
A sworn statement of the fact and circumstances of reappearance shall be recorded in the civil registry of the residence of the parties to the subsequent marriage at the instance of any interested person, with due notice to the spouses of the subsequent marriage and without prejudice to the fact of reappearance being judicially determined in case such fact is disputed.
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F. DOMICILE AND RESIDENCE OF