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Article 15: Nationality Principle

Ibanez de Alcoa vs. HSB

Facts: Under the Old Civil Code, the principle of Patria Potestad, granted the parent
of a child the administration and usufruct of the property of their minor child until
the formal emancipation of said child upon reaching the age of majority. In 1901,
the New Civil Code impliedly repealed this law by introducing the concept of
guardianship and removing the parent’s administration over the child’s property.

Petitioners were formally emancipated by their parents on 1903, thereupon

obtaining full administration over their property. Following subsequent events,
Aldecoa and Co., wherein petitioners were partners thereof, became heavily
indebted and entered into mortgage agreement with the HSB.

Upon the liquidation of said firm, petitioners filed a proceeding and procured a
judgment annulling the articles of copartnership with Aldecoa and Co., and
decreeing that they were creditors and not partners of the firm.

It is contended by the petitioners that under the New Civil Code, their emancipation
was null and void since they were no longer under the principle of Patria Potestad,
and thus had no capacity to enter into a mortgage agreement.

Issues:

– WON Isabel Palet, mother of the petitioners, could legally emancipate the
plaintiffs under the law in force in the Phils in 1903, and thus confer upon
them capacity to execute a valid mortgage on their real property.

HELD:

The judgment of the court below, in so far as it sustains the validity of the
mortgage contract as to Joaquin Ibañez de Aldecoa, is affirmed. In so far
as that judgment declares the nullity of the mortgage as to Zoilo Ibañez
de Aldecoa, it is reversed, and the mortgage is hereby declared binding
upon the latter.

– That the patria potestad (parental authority) of the mother did not terminate
upon the enactment of the new Code of Civil Procedure, but was saved from
the operation of the new law by section 581 thereof. Hence, her rights and
duties as to her children as well as theirs, should be regulated by the
provisions of the old Civil Code. Under the old Civil Code the mother could
validly emancipate the children, and, subsequent to such emancipation, the
children could execute a binding mortgage upon their real property with the
consent of their mother.

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Torres J: Concuring

…there can be no question that the widow of the deceased Aldecoa, Isabel Palet,
exercised parental authority over her children had by her deceased husband
Aldecoa and availed herself of a perfectly legal right, supported by the regulations
of their law of persons, as Spaniards, in granting emancipation to her sons Zoilo and
Joaquin, over 18 years old, and in giving them her consent so that they might
encumber their respective shares in realty or property which they had inherited
from their deceased father, for the purpose of maintaining the credit enjoyed by the
commercial firm entitled "Aldecoa & Co.," and to avoid a premature and
unnecessary liquidation at the instance of the Hongkong Bank.

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