Overview

The Civil Code of the Philippines is a product of the codification of private law in

the Philippines. It is considered to be the general law that is concerned with
the family and property relations in the Philippines. [1] Generally, private law is composed of
those branches of law concerned with the rights and duties of individuals and regulating their
personal and proprietary relationships. It is categorized by the compilers of the Justinian’s
Institutes into three branches: the law of persons, the law of things and the law of actions. The
law of persons, sometimes described as the law of status, indicates that part of the law that
governs with the legal position of the human being, their rights, capacities and duties. It is
composed of much that in modern law is termed family law, as well as the rules governing
marriage and guardianship. The law of things focuses on the rights and obligations generated by
the use and exploitation of economic assets and tackles what in modern law is termed the law of
property, the law of contract, the law of delict and the law of succession. Finally, the law of
actions deals with the remedies by which legal rights were protected and the procedures by
which the relevant legal judgments were enforced. [2]

The Spanish Civil Code influence can be seen in the “books” on property, succession
and obligations and contracts. The law on succession, for example, retains such concepts
indigenous to Spain such as the rule on legitimes and reserva troncal. On the other hand, many
of the provisions on special contracts, particularly on sales, are derived from common law as
practiced in the United States, reflecting the influence of American colonial rule and the influx of
commercial relations involving Americans at the time. [3]

With over 2,000 specific provisions, the Civil Code of the Philippines attempts to
preempt all possible questions that may arise from civil and property relations and proactively
prescribe a definitive solution for such problems. Understandably, the Civil Code itself is unable
to provide a definite answer for all emerging problems; thus the courts also rely
on precedent based on interpretations by the Supreme Court. [4] Thus, the Civil Code itself
notably recognizes this in providing that "judicial decisions applying or interpreting the laws or
the Constitution shall form a part of the legal system of the Philippines". [5] This is a recognition
of the famous role now played by precedents in Philippine law.

In terms of the Civil Code of the Philippine’s organization, I have personally observed
that its provisions per title is in a timeline pattern. It usually starts by discussing about someone
or something’s emancipation or birth and will end with necessary provisions regarding that thing
or persons’ extinguishment or death. I will further discuss the interrelation of the Civil Code
topics according to the sequence of how it is presented in its codification.

Persons and Family Relations

The Roman Law of persons is concerned with the status or legal position of the human
being. It can be defined as the body of legal rules relating to a person’s rights, capacities and
obligations as an individual, as a member of the community and as a member of a particular
family. It encompasses issues of liberty and slavery, citizenship, family status, and other factors
such as age, sex or mental state that are all relevant in determining someone’s legal position. [6]
 The first title of Book I revolves around a person’s juridical existence. It then escalates to
provisions governing a person’s possession and eventually, the essential obligations embedded
with such ownerships. In its first book, Persons, the Civil Code started by addressing what
constitutes a natural person and discussed that birth determines personality. Civil personality
defines the distinction between natural and juridical persons, as well as the difference
between juridical capacity and capacity to act. Paras discussed that Chapter 2 of the Civil code
was drafted to start in a manner that will indicate certain norms arising from the fountain of good
conscience, which will serve as golden threads through society. This is done so that the law may
approach its supreme ideal which is to sway and dominate justice. [7]

In order to alter certain provisions derived from foreign sources that are unsuitable to the
context of the Filipino culture as well as to address contemporary developments and norms, the
Civil Code was amended. This amendment gave birth to the Family Code. The Family Code
protects fields of significant public interest, specifically the laws on marriage. The definition and
requisites for marriage, along with the grounds for its annulment, are found in the Family Code,
as is the law on conjugal property relations, rules on establishing filiation, and the governing
provisions on support, parental authority, and adoption. [8]

Property, Ownership, and its Modifications

Paras mentioned that the book of Civil Code under Property, Ownership and its
Modifications, mainly focuses on property. Property classifies and defines the different kinds of
appropriable objects, provides for their acquisitions and loss, and treats the nature and
consequences of real rights. [9]
Ownership is independent and general right of the person to control a thing particularly in
his possession, enjoyment, disposition, and recovery, subject to no restrictions except those
imposed by the state or private persons, without prejudice to the provisions of the law. [10]
  It is
acquired by occupation and by intellectual creation. Ownership and other real rights over
property are acquired and transmitted by law, by donation, by testate and intestate succession,
and in consequence of certain contracts by tradition. They may be also acquired by acquisitive
prescription. [11]
The Property, Ownership, and its Modifications “book” of the Civil Code is related to the
previous one, Persons. After discussing the provisions governing one’s self, the Book II now
introduces the essential provisions surrounding a person’s capacity to possess properties.

Different Modes of Acquiring Ownership

T
he Romans considered the law of succession to be part of the law of things, since
succession was construed as a mode of acquisition of rights over things in a mass (per
universitatem). Since, however, it was not merely the assets of the deceased that passed to the
heirs but also his debts or obligations, the law of succession is more appropriately treated as an
independent section of private law. [12]
This “book” of the Civil Code is mainly concerned with the legal consequences flowing
from a property of a deceased person, both real and personal, and whether the deceased died
testate or intestate. The rules and principles relating to wills and the procedures for redistribution
of the deceased’s property are also discussed in the “title” of Succession. [13] It is strategic for the
codifiers to place this “book” immediately after discussing the provisions governing a person’s
ownership and properties acquired in his/her lifetime. This method will answer its readers
potential probing question of “What happens to my properties after I die?”. It may also give
remedy to one’s question of law regarding the acquisition of ownership over a ascendant’s
property.
Obligations and Contracts

Aldeguer described that law on Obligations and Contracts is defined as a kind of positive
law which deals with the nature and sources of obligations as well as the rights and duties arising
from agreements in contracts. [14] The term obligation (obligatio) denoted the legal relationship
that existed between two persons, in terms of which one person was obliged towards the other to
carry out a certain duty or duties. [15] In relation to Book II, this “book” considered that when
someone has ownership over a property, there are duties and rights embedded with it. This book
provides for situations when certain obligations are enforced upon one’s involvement with a law
a contract, a quasi-contract, an act or omission punished by law, or a quasi-delict. [16]

Developments in tort and damages law have been guided less by the Civil Code than by
judicial precedents. Damages are already incurred when there is harm done and what may be
recovered is from a wrongful and tortuous act. Damages can be actual or compensatory, moral,
nominal, temperate or moderate, liquidated and exemplary or corrective. [17]

According to Prosser, et. al., the major objectives of tort law are the following: (1) to
provide a peaceful means for adjusting the rights of parties who might otherwise take the law
into their own hands; (2) deter wrongful conduct; (3) to encourage socially responsible behavior;
and (4) to restore injured parties to their original condition, insofar as the law can do this, by
compensating them for their injury. [18]

REFERENCES
[1]
Arturo Tolentino, Civil Code of the Philippines: Commentaries and Jurisprudence, Vol. I., 7
(Central Lawbook Publishing Co., Inc., 1990)

[2]
Edgardo Paras, Civil Code of the Philippines Annotated, 6 (Rex Bookstore, 2008)

[3]
Id. at 7

[4]
Id. at 7
[5]
Civil Code, Art. 8

[6]
George Mousourakis, Roman Law and the Origins of the Civil Law Tradition, 97-98 (Springer
International Publishing Switzerland, 2015)

[7]
Edgardo Paras, Civil Code of the Philippines Annotated, 7 (Rex Bookstore, 2008)

[8]
Alicia Sempio-Diy, Handbook on the Family Code of the Philippines, 8 (Central Lawbook
Publishing Co., Inc., 1988)
[9]
Edgardo Paras, Civil Code of the Philippines Annotated, Book II, 1 (Rex Bookstore, 2008)
[10]
Id. at 81

[11]
Id. at 774
[12]
George Mousourakis, Roman Law and the Origins of the Civil Law Tradition, 149 (Springer
International Publishing Switzerland, 2015)

[13]
Id. at 149-150

[14]
Christine Aldeguer, Law on Obligations and Contracts in the Philippines: An
Overview, 2 (2014),
https://ssrn.com/abstract=2429979
[15]
George Mousourakis, Roman Law and the Origins of the Civil Law Tradition, 99 (Springer
International Publishing Switzerland, 2015)

[16]
Civil Code, Art. 1157

[17]
Civil Code, Art. 2197

[18]
William L. Prosser, John W. Wade, Victor E. Schwartz, Cases and Materials on Torts, 1
(1988).