Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Brabangco
59 O.G. 8262 (1963)
FACTS:
ISSUES:
RULING:
Yes. The plaintiff declared that the original deed of sale
signed by defendant Tiburcia was lost during the war. The record
of the present case will bear that its existence was
convincingly proven not only by the testimony of Heraclea Vda.
De Corpus, the surviving widow, and by the environmental facts
disclosed by the evidence, but also by the disinterested testimony of
Pablo Albeza. After proper proof of the due execution &
delivery of the instrument & its loss
or d e s t r u c t i o n , o r al e vi d e n c e m a y b e g i ve n o f i t s c o
n t e n t s b y a n y p e r s o n w h o s i g n e d t h e document, or who
read it. As to the second issue, it is not necessary, in order to admit
evidence of the contents of a lost instrument, that the witness should
be able to testify with verbal accuracy to its contents; it is sufficient
if they are able to state it in substance. Witnesses cannot be
expected to recite the content word for word. It is enough
if intelligent witnesses have read the paper & can state substantially
its contents & import with reasonable accuracy. Thus, it was held
sufficient if the witness can recollect and testify to facts
showing the presence of essential elements of a contract,
namely; consent, subject matter, consideration and form in
certain instances. In the case at bar, the evidence adduced by the
plaintiffs are more than enough to satisfy the statutory requirements
as to execution and subsequent loss of the deed of sale as well as to
its contents.