Persons and Family Relations Law

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the Preliminary Title, Civil Personality, Citizenship, Marriage, Property Regimes, Paternity and Filiation, Adoption, Support, and Parental Authority under the Civil Code and the Family Code of the Philippines.

Republic Act No. 386

The Civil Code of the Philippines, approved by the Senate and House of Representatives on January 26, 1949, prepared by the 1947 Roxas Code Commission, and taking effect on August 30, 1950.

Executive Order No. 200

The law promulgated on June 18, 1987 by President Corazon C. Aquino amending Article 2 of the Civil Code, providing that laws take effect after $15$ days following the completion of publication either in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines, unless otherwise provided.

Ignorantia Legis Non Excusat

A legal precept codified in Article 3 of the Civil Code establishing the conclusive presumption that ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance therewith, applicable to mandatory and prohibitory laws.

Curative Statute

A form of retrospective legislation that reaches back on past events to correct errors or irregularities and render valid and effective attempted acts that would otherwise be ineffective for the purpose the parties intended.

Mandatory Law

A provision of law the omission of which renders the proceeding or acts to which it relates generally illegal or void.

Prohibitory Law

A law that contains positive prohibitions and is couched in negative terms importing that the required act shall not be done otherwise than designated, rendering acts committed in violation thereof void.

Waiver

The intentional relinquishment of a known, existing right made knowingly and intelligently by a duly capacitated person actually possessing that right.

Express Repeal

A repeal literally declared by a subsequent law, either in specific terms identifying particular provisions to be repealed or in general terms declaring inconsistent acts repealed.

Implied Repeal

A repeal that takes place when a new law contains provisions contrary to or inconsistent with those of a former statute without expressly repealing them.

Legis Interpretatio Legis Vim Obtinet

A legal maxim restating the doctrine that the interpretation placed upon written law by a competent court has the force of law.

Juridical Custom

A rule of conduct formed by repetition of acts, uniformly observed and practiced as a legally binding and obligatory social rule, which must be proved as a fact according to the rules of evidence.

Nationality Principle (Lex Nationalii)

The legal rule embodied in Article 15 of the Civil Code providing that laws relating to family rights and duties, or to the status, condition, and legal capacity of persons, are binding upon Filipino citizens even though living abroad.

Lex Rei Sitae

The principle embodied in Article 16 of the Civil Code establishing that real and personal property is subject to the law of the country where it is situated.

Lex Loci Celebrationis

The principle of international and interstate law establishing that the validity of a contract or marriage is determined by the law of the place where it is celebrated.

Principle of Abuse of Rights

A standard of human conduct codified in Article 19 of the Civil Code mandating that every person, in the exercise of rights and performance of duties, must act with justice, give everyone their due, and observe honesty and good faith.

Contra Bonus Mores

Acts contrary to good morals, customs, or public policy committed intentionally to cause injury, providing a cause of action for damages under Article 21 of the Civil Code.

Unjust Enrichment (Nemo Cum Alterius Detrimento Locupletari Potest)

A fundamental equitable doctrine codified in Article 22 of the Civil Code providing that no person shall be allowed to profit or enrich themselves inequitably at another's expense without just or legal ground.

Prejudicial Question

A question that arises in a case, the resolution of which is a logical antecedent of the issue involved therein, and the cognizance of which pertains to another tribunal.

Juridical Capacity

The fitness to be the subject of legal relations, which is inherent in every natural person and is lost only through death.

Capacity to Act

The power to do acts with legal effect, which is acquired and may be modified or lost by causes such as age, insanity, or civil interdiction.

Provisional Personality

The conditional legal personality accorded by Article 40 of the Civil Code to a conceived, unborn child for all purposes favorable to it, provided it is born alive under the conditions of Article 41.

Juridical Person

A being of legal existence susceptible of rights and obligations, or of being the subject of juridical relations, including the State, corporations, partnerships, and associations.

Doctrine of Piercing the Veil of Corporate Fiction

The equitable rule disregarding a corporation's separate legal personality when invoked to defeat public convenience, justify wrong, protect fraud, or serve as a mere business conduit or alter ego.

Domicile

The place of habitual residence of a natural person coupled with the bona fide intention of remaining or returning permanently.

Jus Sanguinis

The principle of citizenship acquisition based on the blood relationship with the father or mother rather than the place of birth.

Marriage (under the Family Code)

A special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life, and an inviolable social institution.

Essential Requisites of Marriage

The two mandatory requirements under Article 2 of the Family Code: legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be male and female, and consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer.

Formal Requisites of Marriage

The three mandatory requirements under Article 3 of the Family Code: authority of the solemnizing officer, a valid marriage license (except in exempt cases), and a marriage ceremony before the officer with at least two witnesses of legal age.

Marriage in Articulo Mortis

A marriage contracted at the point of death by either or both parties, which may be solemnized without the necessity of a marriage license.

Common-Law Marriage

A non-ceremonial or informal marriage by agreement without compliance with statutory formalities, which is not recognized under Philippine law.

Psychological Incapacity

A ground for nullity of marriage under Article 36 of the Family Code characterized by gravity, juridical antecedence, and incurability, referring to an enduring psychological illness preventing assumption of essential marital obligations.

Putative Marriage

A matrimonial union solemnized in due form and good faith on the part of one or both parties, but which by reason of some legal infirmity is void or voidable.

Incestuous Marriages

Marriages declared void from the beginning under Article 37 of the Family Code between ascendants and descendants of any degree, and between brothers and sisters whether of full or half-blood.

Affidavit of Reappearance

A sworn statement recording the fact and circumstances of the reappearance of an absent spouse in the local civil registry, which automatically terminates a subsequent marriage contracted under Article 41.

Voidable Marriage

A marriage that is valid until annulled by a competent court on any of the exclusive grounds specified in Article 45 of the Family Code existing at the time of celebration.

Rule of Triennial Cohabitation

The legal presumption that if a wife remains a virgin after at least three years of cohabiting with her husband, the burden shifts to the husband to overcome the presumption of physical impotence.

Presumptive Legitime

The estimated value of the inheritance share of common children delivered upon partition after a decree of annulment or absolute nullity under Article 51 of the Family Code.

Legal Separation (A Mensa Et Thoro)

Relative divorce that permits the spouses to live separately from bed and board and dissolves the property regime without severing the marital bond.

Cooling-Off Period

The mandatory six-month period under Article 58 of the Family Code that must elapse from the filing of a petition for legal separation before the case can be tried on the merits, designed to enable possible reconciliation.

Condonation

The act of forgiving a marital offense after its commission, conditional on future good behavior, which bars a petition for legal separation.

Connivance

Corrupt consenting to or procurement of the commission of a matrimonial offense, serving as a ground for the denial of legal separation.

Recrimination (Equal Guilt)

A defense in legal separation wherein both parties have given grounds for separation, barring relief pursuant to the principle of in pari delicto.

Collusion

A corrupt agreement between spouses to make it appear that a matrimonial offense has been committed or to suppress evidence for the purpose of obtaining a decree of nullity or legal separation.

Marriage Settlement

An ante-nuptial contract in writing signed by prospective spouses before the marriage to fix and govern their property relations within the limits provided by the Family Code.

Donation Propter Nuptias

A donation made before the celebration of marriage, in consideration thereof, and in favor of one or both of the future spouses.

System of Absolute Community of Property

The default property regime under the Family Code wherein all property owned by the spouses at the time of celebration or acquired thereafter forms a common fund owned jointly.

Conjugal Partnership of Gains

A property regime wherein the spouses place in a common fund the proceeds, products, fruits, and income from separate properties and those acquired through work, industry, or chance, dividing net gains equally upon dissolution.

Family Home

The dwelling house where the spouses or unmarried head of a family and their family reside, including the land on which it is situated, deemed constituted by actual occupancy and exempt from execution up to statutory limits.

Tender-Age Presumption

The statutory rule under Article 213 of the Family Code providing that no child under seven years of age shall be separated from the mother, unless the court finds compelling reasons to order otherwise.

Special Parental Authority

The authority and responsibility vested in schools, their administrators and teachers, or child-care entities over minor children while under their supervision, instruction, or custody.

Emancipation

The termination of parental authority over the person and property of a child upon the attainment of majority at the age of $18$ years under Republic Act No. 6809.

Child Legally Available for Adoption

A child voluntarily or involuntarily committed to the DSWD or an accredited agency, freed of parental authority by biological parents or guardians, and certified as such.

Simulation of Birth

The tampering of the civil registry making it appear in the birth records that a child was born to a person who is not the biological mother, causing the child to lose true identity and status.

Supervised Trial Custody

A period of time of at least six months during which a social worker oversees the adjustment and emotional readiness of both adopters and adoptee to stabilize their filial relationship.

Inter-Country Adoption

The socio-legal process governed by Republic Act No. 8043 of adopting a Filipino child by a foreigner or a Filipino citizen permanently residing abroad where the petition is filed, trial custody is undertaken, and the decree is issued outside the Philippines.

Support

Everything indispensable for sustenance, dwelling, clothing, medical attendance, education, and transportation, in keeping with the financial capacity of the family under Article 194 of the Family Code.

Support Pendente Lite

Provisional financial allowance granted to a spouse or common child by order of the court during the pendency of a legal action or proceeding before final judgment.