Facts:

• The case involves the estate of Don Mariano Mijares, who died in 1899 in Albay.
• Mijares left behind property valued at approximately 80,000 pesos.
• He had no legitimate heirs but had one natural daughter, Consolacion Mijares y Borromeo, born in 1862.
• Mijares also had five daughters born out of wedlock to his niece, Delfina Nery, between 1862 and 1889.
• Consolacion claimed to be the sole heir, arguing the five daughters were illegitimate and did not qualify as natural children under the law at their birth.
• The defendants contended that the five daughters were acknowledged as natural children under the Civil Code effective in 1880.
• The lower court ruled in favor of the defendants on April 11, 1903, prompting Consolacion to appeal.

Issue:

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Ruling:

• The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's decision.
• The five daughters of Delfina Nery were recognized as natural children under the Civil Code and entitled to inherit from Don Mariano Mijares.
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Ratio:

• The ruling was based on the interpretation of the Civil Code, particularly Article 119, which defines natural children as those born out of wedlock whose parents could have married at the time of conception.
• The Court noted that the five daughters were acknowledged by their father, granting them natural child status under the new law, despite being born when the old law (Law 11 of Toro) was in effect.
• The rights of the daughters were established at the time of their father's death in 1899, when the Civil Code was already ...continue reading