Case Digest (G.R. No. L-9005)
Facts:
Arsenio de Loria and Ricarda de Loria v. Felipe Apelan Felix, G.R. No. L-9005, June 20, 1958, the Supreme Court En Banc, Bengzon, J., writing for the Court.
Petitioners Arsenio and Ricarda de Loria (grandchildren of Adriana de la Cruz) sued respondent Felipe Apelan Felix to compel an accounting and delivery of properties allegedly belonging to Matea de la Cruz, whom they contend died intestate and whose forced heirs they are. The complaint, filed May 12, 1952, alleged that respondents were not lawful heirs because the alleged marriage between Matea and Felix was invalid.
The antecedent facts are that Matea and Felix had long lived together as husband and wife in Pasay before and during the liberation of Manila; they acquired property but had no children. In January 1945 Matea became gravely ill. Two women, Carmen Ordiales and Judith Vizcarra, brought Father Gerardo Bautista, parish priest of Pasay, who heard Matea's confession, administered extreme unction, and, finding Matea and Felix able to declare consent before him and two witnesses, solemnized a marriage in articulo mortis on January 29 or 30, 1945, with Ordiales and Vizcarra as witnesses. Matea recovered for a time but died in January 1946; Father Bautista also performed the burial rites.
At trial the court of first instance ruled for the plaintiffs (petitioners here). The Court of Appeals reversed and dismissed the complaint, holding the in articulo mortis marriage to be a fact and rejecting the contention that the priest's failure to file or register the marriage rendered it invalid. The case was brought to the Supreme Court for review of the Court of Appeals' decision.
The principal factual disputes below concerned whether (a) a signed instrument in triplicate required by section 3 of the Marriage Law (Act No...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Was the marriage in articulo mortis between Matea de la Cruz and Felipe Apelan Felix valid despite the absence of a signed triplicate marriage contract and the priest's failure to file or register the certificate and affidavit required by the Marriage Law?
- If the marriage was valid, did respondent Felix, as surviving spouse, have superior succession rights over petitioners (grandchildren of the deceased's siste...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
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Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)