G.R. No. 1380 - Mijares vs. Nery

In 1899, Don Mariano Mijares died in the Province of Albay, leaving an estate estimated at 80,000 pesos.
At the time of his death, Mijares had no legitimate heirs, descendant, or ascendant.
He had a daughter, Consolacion Mijares y Borromeo (the plaintiff), born out of wedlock but legally recognized as his natural child.
Mijares also fathered five other daughters with his niece, Delfina Nery; these children were born between 1862 and 1889.
Despite the issuance of a pontifical bull on January 23, 1878, by Pope Pius IX, authorizing the union between Mijares and his niece, no formal marriage took place.

Mijares acknowledged all his daughters—both Consolacion and the five born of his niece—expressly and tacitly as his own.
Under the old law (Law 11 of Toro), natural children were defined with a requirement that parents at the time of conception or birth were not disqualified to marry without dispensation.
The five daughters born with Delfina Nery, although considered illegitimate under the old standard, later acquired the status of natural children under Article 119 of the Civil Code.
This change occurred because the Civil Code, operative from 1880, confined the qualification to the time of conception and permitted acknowledgment by one or both parents.

Consolacion Mijares, the plaintiff and acknowledged natural daughter, brought suit claiming to be the sole universal heir of her father’s estate.
Her claim was based on the position that, at the time of Mijares’ death, no legitimate descendants or ascendants existed besides her.
The defendants (the five daughters of Delfina Nery) countered by asserting that, under the provisions of the Civil Code, they were entitled to inherit as acknowledged natural children.
The controversy centered on whether the retroactive application of Article 119 and the accompanying transitory provisions could confer equal successory rights to both the plaintiff and the defendants.

A copy of the pontifical bull authorizing Mijares’ union with Delfina Nery was submitted, although the marriage never materialized.
The defendants also presented a will and codicil allegedly executed by Mijares, instituting all his daughters as heirs in equal parts.
The trial court did not find any issue with the validity of the will or codicil, leaving these documents as supporting evidence for the defendants’ claim.

Whether the five daughters born of Delfina Nery could be considered natural children under the Civil Code, despite being born under circumstances that the old law (Law 11 of Toro) would render them illegitimate.
The significance of retroactive effect provided by the transitory provisions in applying Article 119 to the defendants’ birth circumstances.

Whether Consolacion’s right to inherit had already vested prior to her father’s death, or if it was merely an expectancy subject to the rules of intestate succession under the Civil Code.
The impact of the fact that all natural children, though acknowledged, did not have a vested right to inherit until Mijares’ death.

Whether awarding Consolacion as the sole universal heir would unjustly prejudice the rights of the five daughters of Delfina Nery.
The legal implications of the will and codicil executed by Mijares, and whether these documents should influence the distribution of the estate.