QuestionsQuestions (Republic Act No. 386)
Laws take effect after fifteen (15) days following the completion of publication either in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines, unless otherwise provided.
No. Ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance with it.
Laws have no retroactive effect unless the contrary is provided.
Acts executed against mandatory or prohibitory laws are void, except when the law itself authorizes their validity.
Rights may be waived unless the waiver is contrary to law, public order, public policy, morals, or good customs, or prejudicial to a third person with a right recognized by law.
Laws are repealed only by subsequent ones. Courts’ violation/non-observance due to disuse/custom does not excuse it. If a court declares a law inconsistent with the Constitution, the former is void and the latter governs.
Customs contrary to law, public order, or public policy cannot be countenanced. A custom must be proved as a fact according to the rules of evidence.
Years = 365 days; months = 30 days; days = 24 hours; nights run from sunset to sunrise. Also, when computing a period, the first day is excluded and the last day included.
A person must act with justice, give everyone his due, and observe honesty and good faith.
Art. 20: liability for willfully or negligently causing damage contrary to law. Art. 21: liability for willfully causing loss or injury contrary to morals, good customs, or public policy, even if not necessarily contrary to law.
Even when damage is not due to the defendant’s fault or negligence, liability for indemnity may still arise if the defendant was benefited through the act or event.
Art. 26: acts such as prying into privacy, meddling with private life/family relations, intriguing to alienate, and vexing/humiliating due to religion or personal conditions—even if not criminal—produce a cause of action for damages, prevention, and other relief. Art. 27: refusal or neglect by public servants to perform official duty without just cause may be sued for damages and other relief.
The civil action requires only a preponderance of evidence.
Judicial decisions applying or interpreting laws or the Constitution shall form part of the legal system of the Philippines.
Birth determines personality, but the conceived child is considered born for favorable purposes if it is alive when completely delivered. If intra-uterine life is less than seven months, it is not deemed born if it dies within 24 hours after complete delivery.
Capacity to act is acquired and may be lost; it is modified/limited by factors such as age, insanity, imbecility, deaf-mute status, penalty, prodigality, family relations, alienage, absence, insolvency, and trusteeship. Capacity is not limited due to religious belief or political opinion.
Requisites: (1) legal capacity, (2) freely given consent, (3) authority of the person solemnizing, and (4) marriage license (except exceptional character marriages). Generally, no marriage is solemnized without a license first being issued by the local civil registrar where either contracting party habitually resides (Art. 58).
Examples: contracted under age limits (below 16 male and below 14 female), solemnized by unauthorized person, solemnized without marriage license (except exceptional character), bigamous/polygamous not under Art. 83(2), incestuous marriages (Art. 81), marriages involving killing of a spouse, and prohibited relationships under Art. 82.
Adultery by the wife and concubinage by the husband (as defined in the Penal Code); or an attempt by one spouse against the life of the other.