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Article 1. This Act shall be known as the Civil Code of the Philippines.
Article 8. Judicial decisions applying or interpreting the laws or the Constitution shall form
part of the legal system of the Philippines.
Article 9. No judge or court shall decline to render judgment by reason of the silence,
obscurity or insufficiency of the laws.
Article 10. In case of doubt in the interpretation or application of laws, it is presumed
that the lawmaking body intended right and justice to prevail.
Civil Law- Mass of precepts that determine or regulate relations among members of
family, society for the protection of private interests.
Article 2. Laws shall take effect after fifteen days following the completion of their
publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation in the
Philippines[3], unless it is otherwise provided. This Code shall take effect one year after
publication.
Exceptions:
1) Mistake upon a difficult or doubtful question of law may be the basis of good faith
(Art. 526 [3], NCC)
2) Mutual Error as to the legal effect of agreement (Art. 1334, NCC)
3) Payment by reason of a mistake in the construction or application of a doubtful or
difficult question of law (Art. 2155, NCC)
Article 4. Laws shall have no retroactive effect, unless the contrary is provided.
Exceptions:
1) When the law expressly provides for retroactivity, i.e., Family Code, Art. 256
2) When the law is curative or remedial
3) When the law is procedural
4) When the law is penal in nature and favourable to the accused.
Article 5. – Self-explanatory
Article 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.
· RIGHT must be in existence and exercised by a duly capacitated person.
· Right v. Obligation
Article 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 Laws are repealed only by subsequent ones, and their violation or non-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.
-self-explanatory
Article 14. Penal laws and those of public security and safety shall be obligatory upon all
who live or sojourn in Philippine territory, subject to the principles of public international
law and to treaty stipulations.
Article 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.
- related to 2nd para. Article 26, New Family Code
Article 16. Real property as well as personal property is subject to the law of the country
where it is situated.
Exceptions:
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 judgment promulgated, or by determinations or conventions
agreed upon in a foreign country.
-“Application of its provisions.- Except as provided in the treaties and laws of preferential
application, the provisions of this Code shall be enforced not only within the Philippine
Archipelago, including its atmosphere, its interior waters and maritime zone, but also
outside of its jurisdiction, against those who:
Article 19. Every person must, in the exercise of his rights and in the performance of his
duties, act with justice, give everyone his due, and observe honesty and good faith.
Article 20. Every person who, contrary to law, wilfully or negligently causes damage to
another, shall indemnify the latter for the same.
Article 21. Any person who wilfully causes loss or injury to another in a manner that is
contrary to morals, good customs or public policy shall compensate the latter for the
damage.
Article 22. Every person who through an act or performance by another, or any other
means, acquires or comes into possession of something at the expense of the latter
without just or legal ground, shall return the same to him.
Article 23. Even when an act or event causing damage to another’s property was not due
to the fault or negligence of the defendant, the latter shall be liable for indemnity if
through the act or event he was benefitted.
Nevertheless,
Article 32. Any public officer or employee, or any private individual, who directly or
indirectly obstructs, defeats, violates or in any manner impedes or impairs any of the
following rights and liberties of another person shall be liable for damages: x x x x”.
Civil Liberties.
Justice Louis Brandeis, dissenting in Olmstead v. United States (1928) otherwise known
“Alcohol Prohibition case on wiretapping”: “The Fourth Amendment protects people, not
places. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal,
well-meaning but without understanding”.
Articles 30 to 36.
· Basic rule: Criminal proceedings occupy a higher tier in the order of priority.
· When civil action is filed first, and criminal action is subsequently filed, the civil
action has to be suspended.
· When criminal action was filed ahead, civil action cannot be instituted until final
judgment has been entered in the criminal action.
· Exception: Articles 32,33,34 and 2176. Independent Civil Actions.
· Prejudicial question. (1) the civil action involves an issue similar or intimately
related to the issue raised in the criminal action; and (2) the resolution of such issue
determines whether or not the criminal action may proceed.
· Note: Civil Code does not distinguish as to whether civil action must have been
“previously instituted”. BUT, See Sec. 7, Rule 111 of 2000 Rules on Criminal Procedure.