Article 1. This Act shall be known as the "Civil Code of
the Philippines." (n)
Art. 2.
Laws shall take effect after fifteen days
following the completion of their publication in
the Official Gazette, unless it is otherwise
provided. This Code shall take effect one year
after such publication. (1a)
Art. 3.
Ignorance of the law excuses no one from
compliance therewith. (2)
Art.
4. Laws shall have no retroactive effect,
unless the contrary is provided. (3)
Art. 5. Acts executed against
the provisions of mandatory or prohibitory laws
shall be void, except when the law itself
authorizes their validity. (4a)
Art.
6. 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.
(4a)
Art. 7. Laws are repealed
only by subsequent ones, and their violation or
non-observance shall not be excused by disuse,
or custom or practice to the contrary.
When the courts declared a law to be
inconsistent with the Constitution, the former
shall be void and the latter shall govern.
Administrative or executive acts, orders
and regulations shall be valid only when they
are not contrary to the laws or the
Constitution. (5a)
Art. 8.
Judicial decisions applying or interpreting
the laws or the Constitution shall form a part
of the legal system of the Philippines. (n)
Art. 9. No judge or court shall
decline to render judgment by reason of the
silence, obscurity or insufficiency of the laws.
(6)
Art. 10. In case of doubt
in the interpretation or application of laws, it
is presumed that the lawmaking body intended
right and justice to prevail. (n)
Art. 11. Customs which are
contrary to law, public order or public policy
shall not be countenanced. (n)
Art.
12. A custom must be proved as a fact,
according to the rules of evidence. (n)
Art. 13. When the laws speak of
years, months, days or nights, it shall be
understood that years are of three hundred
sixty-five days each; months, of thirty days;
days, of twenty-four hours; and nights from
sunset to sunrise.
If months are
designated by their name, they shall be computed
by the number of days which they respectively
have.
In computing a period, the first
day shall be excluded, and the last day
included. (7a)
Art. 14. Penal
laws and those of public security and safety
shall be obligatory upon all who live or sojourn
in the Philippine territory, subject to the
principles of public international law and to
treaty stipulations. (8a)
Art.
15. Laws relating to family rights and
duties, or to the status, condition and legal
capacity of persons are binding upon citizens of
the Philippines, even though living abroad. (9a)
Art. 16. Real property as well
as personal property is subject to the law of
the country where it is stipulated.
However, intestate and testamentary
successions, both with respect to the order of
succession and to the amount of successional
rights and to the intrinsic validity of
testamentary provisions, shall be regulated by
the national law of the person whose succession
is under consideration, whatever may be the
nature of the property and regardless of the
country wherein said property may be found.
(10a)
Art. 17. The forms and
solemnities of contracts, wills, and other
public instruments shall be governed by the laws
of the country in which they are executed.
When the acts referred to are executed
before the diplomatic or consular officials of
the Republic of the Philippines in a foreign
country, the solemnities established by
Philippine laws shall be observed in their
execution.
Prohibitive laws concerning
persons, their acts or property, and those which
have, for their object, public order, public
policy and good customs shall not be rendered
ineffective by laws or judgments promulgated, or
by determinations or conventions agreed upon in
a foreign country. (11a)
Art.
18. In matters which are governed by the
Code of Commerce and special laws, their
deficiency shall be supplied by the provisions
of this Code. (16a)
CHAPTER
2
HUMAN RELATIONS (n)
Art. 19. Every person must, in
the exercise of his rights and in the
performance of his duties, act with justice,
give everyone his due, and observe honesty and
good faith.
Art. 20. Every
person who, contrary to law, wilfully or
negligently causes damage to another, shall
indemnify the latter for the same.
Art. 21. Any person who
wilfully causes loss or injury to another in a
manner that is contrary to morals, good customs
or public policy shall compensate the latter for
the damage.
Art. 22. Every
person who through an act of performance by
another, or any other means, acquires or comes
into possession of something at the expense of
the latter without just or legal ground, shall
return the same to him.
Art. 23.
Even when an act or event causing damage to
another's property was not due to the fault or
negligence of the defendant, the latter shall be
liable for indemnity if through the act or event
he was benefited.
Art. 24. In
all contractual, property or other relations,
when one of the parties is at a disadvantage on
account of his moral dependence, ignorance,
indigence, mental weakness, tender age or other
handicap, the courts must be vigilant for his
protection.
Art. 25.
Thoughtless extravagance in expenses for
pleasure or display during a period of acute
public want or emergency may be stopped by order
of the courts at the instance of any government
or private charitable institution.
Art. 26. Every person shall
respect the dignity, personality, privacy and
peace of mind of his neighbors and other
persons. The following and similar acts, though
they may not constitute a criminal offense,
shall produce a cause of action for damages,
prevention and other relief:
(1) Prying
into the privacy of another's residence:
(2)
Meddling with or disturbing the private life or
family relations of another;
(3)
Intriguing to cause another to be alienated from
his friends;
(4) Vexing or humiliating
another on account of his religious beliefs,
lowly station in life, place of birth, physical
defect, or other personal condition.
Art. 27. Any person suffering
material or moral loss because a public servant
or employee refuses or neglects, without just
cause, to perform his official duty may file an
action for damages and other relief against he
latter, without prejudice to any disciplinary
administrative action that may be taken.
Art. 28. Unfair competition in
agricultural, commercial or industrial
enterprises or in labor through the use of
force, intimidation, deceit, machination or any
other unjust, oppressive or highhanded method
shall give rise to a right of action by the
person who thereby suffers damage.
Art. 29. When the accused in a
criminal prosecution is acquitted on the ground
that his guilt has not been proved beyond
reasonable doubt, a civil action for damages for
the same act or omission may be instituted. Such
action requires only a preponderance of
evidence. Upon motion of the defendant, the
court may require the plaintiff to file a bond
to answer for damages in case the complaint
should be found to be malicious.
If in a
criminal case the judgment of acquittal is based
upon reasonable doubt, the court shall so
declare. In the absence of any declaration to
that effect, it may be inferred from the text of
the decision whether or not the acquittal is due
to that ground.
Art. 30. When a
separate civil action is brought to demand civil
liability arising from a criminal offense, and
no criminal proceedings are instituted during
the pendency of the civil case, a preponderance
of evidence shall likewise be sufficient to
prove the act complained of.
Art.
31. When the civil action is based on an
obligation not arising from the act or omission
complained of as a felony, such civil action may
proceed independently of the criminal
proceedings and regardless of the result of the
latter.
Art. 32. Any public
officer or employee, or any private individual,
who directly or indirectly obstructs, defeats,
violates or in any manner impedes or impairs any
of the following rights and liberties of another
person shall be liable to the latter for
damages:
(1) Freedom of religion;
(2) Freedom of speech;
(3) Freedom
to write for the press or to maintain a
periodical publication;
(4) Freedom from
arbitrary or illegal detention;
(5)
Freedom of suffrage;
(6) The right
against deprivation of property without due
process of law;
(7) The right to a just
compensation when private property is taken for
public use;
(8) The right to the equal
protection of the laws;
(9) The right to
be secure in one's person, house, papers, and
effects against unreasonable searches and
seizures;
(10) The liberty of abode and
of changing the same;
(11) The privacy
of communication and correspondence;
(12) The right to become a member of
associations or societies for purposes not
contrary to law;
(13) The right to take
part in a peaceable assembly to petition the
government for redress of grievances;
(14) The right to be free from
involuntary servitude in any form;
(15)
The right of the accused against excessive bail;
(16) The right of the accused to be
heard by himself and counsel, to be informed of
the nature and cause of the accusation against
him, to have a speedy and public trial, to meet
the witnesses face to face, and to have
compulsory process to secure the attendance of
witness in his behalf;
(17) Freedom from
being compelled to be a witness against one's
self, or from being forced to confess guilt, or
from being induced by a promise of immunity or
reward to make such confession, except when the
person confessing becomes a State witness;
(18) Freedom from excessive fines, or
cruel and unusual punishment, unless the same is
imposed or inflicted in accordance with a
statute which has not been judicially declared
unconstitutional; and
(19) Freedom of
access to the courts.
In any of the
cases referred to in this article, whether or
not the defendant's act or omission constitutes
a criminal offense, the aggrieved party has a
right to commence an entirely separate and
distinct civil action for damages, and for other
relief. Such civil action shall proceed
independently of any criminal prosecution (if
the latter be instituted), and mat be proved by
a preponderance of evidence.
The indemnity
shall include moral damages. Exemplary damages
may also be adjudicated.
The
responsibility herein set forth is not
demandable from a judge unless his act or
omission constitutes a violation of the Penal
Code or other penal statute.
Art.
33. In cases of defamation, fraud, and
physical injuries a civil action for damages,
entirely separate and distinct from the criminal
action, may be brought by the injured party.
Such civil action shall proceed independently of
the criminal prosecution, and shall require only
a preponderance of evidence.
Art.
34. When a member of a city or municipal
police force refuses or fails to render aid or
protection to any person in case of danger to
life or property, such peace officer shall be
primarily liable for damages, and the city or
municipality shall be subsidiarily responsible
therefor. The civil action herein recognized
shall be independent of any criminal
proceedings, and a preponderance of evidence
shall suffice to support such action.
Art. 35. When a person,
claiming to be injured by a criminal offense,
charges another with the same, for which no
independent civil action is granted in this Code
or any special law, but the justice of the peace
finds no reasonable grounds to believe that a
crime has been committed, or the prosecuting
attorney refuses or fails to institute criminal
proceedings, the complaint may bring a civil
action for damages against the alleged offender.
Such civil action may be supported by a
preponderance of evidence. Upon the defendant's
motion, the court may require the plaintiff to
file a bond to indemnify the defendant in case
the complaint should be found to be malicious.
If during the pendency of the civil
action, an information should be presented by
the prosecuting attorney, the civil action shall
be suspended until the termination of the
criminal proceedings.
Art. 36.
Pre-judicial questions which must be
decided before any criminal prosecution may be
instituted or may proceed, shall be governed by
rules of court which the Supreme Court shall
promulgate and which shall not be in conflict
with the provisions of this Code.
