LAW ON PROPERTY | LIGUEZ V. COURT OF APPEALS 102 PHIL. 577, DECEMBER 18, 1957

LIGUEZ V. COURT OF APPEALS

102 PHIL. 577, DECEMBER 18, 1957

 

TOPIC/DOCTRINE

The same view is held by the Supreme Court of Spain, in its decisions of February 4, 1941, and December 4, 1946, holding that the motive may be regarded as causa when it predetermines the purpose of the contract.

 

FACTS

The case began upon complaint filed by petitioner-appellant against the widow and heirs of the late Salvador P. Lopez to recover a parcel of 51.84 hectares of land, situated in Barrio Bogac-Linot, of the municipality of Mati, Province of Davao. Plaintiff averred to be its legal owner, pursuant to a deed of donation of said land, executed in her favor by the late owner, Salvador P. Lopez, on 18 May 1943. The defense interposed was that the donation was null and void for having an illicit causa or consideration, which was plaintiff's entering into marital relations with Salvador P. Lopez, a married man; and that the property had been adjudicated to the appellees as heirs of Lopez by the Court of First Instance, since 1949.

 

ISSUE

Whether the donation was null and void for having an illicit causa or consideration.

 

RULING

Yes.

Under Article 1274, of the Civil Code of 1889, liberality of the donor is deemed causa only in those contracts that are of "pure" beneficence; that is to say, contracts designed solely and exclusively to procure the welfare of the beneficiary, without any intent of producing any satisfaction for the donor; contracts, in other words, in which the idea of self-interest is totally absent on the part of the transferor. For this very reason, the same Article 1274 provides that in remuneratory contracts, the consideration is the service or benefit for which the remuneration is given; causa is not liberality in these cases because the contract or conveyance is not made out of pure beneficence, but "solvendi animo". The same view is held by the Supreme Court of Spain, in its decisions of February 4, 1941, and December 4, 1946, holding that the motive may be regarded as causa when it predetermines the purpose of the contract.

Here, the court ruled that it is scarsely disputable that Lopez would not have conveyed the property in question had he known that appellant would refuse to cohabit with him; so that the cohabitation was an implied condition to the donation, and being unlawful, necessarily tainted the donation itself.







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