Short answer. Article 1878 lists fifteen categories, including transferring or acquiring real property, making gifts, borrowing or lending money, leasing real property for over a year, entering a partnership, standing as guarantor, accepting or repudiating an inheritance, and, generally, any other act of strict dominion.
What the law says
Special powers of attorney are necessary in the following cases: (1) To make such payments as are not usually considered as acts of administration; (2) To effect novations which put an end to obligations already in existence at the time the agency was constituted; (3) To compromise, to submit questions to arbitration, to renounce the right to appeal from a judgment, to waive objections to the venue of an action or to abandon a prescription already acquired; (4) To waive any obligation gratuitously; (5) To enter into any contract by which the ownership of an immovable is transmitted or acquired either gratuitously or for a valuable consideration; (6) To make gifts, except customary ones for charity or those made to employees in the business managed by the agent; (7) To loan or borrow money, unless the latter act be urgent and indispensable for the preservation of the things which are under administration; (8) To lease any real property to another person for more than one year; (9) To bind the principal to render some service without compensation; (10) To bind the principal in a contract of partnership; (11) To obligate the principal as a guarantor or surety; (12) To create or convey real rights over immovable property; (13) To accept or repudiate an inheritance; (14) To ratify or recognize obligations contracted before the agency; (15) Any other act of strict dominion.
Civil Code, Article 1878 — Acts Requiring a Special Power of Attorney. Read the full provision →
Real property and other ownership transactions
Several items on Article 1878's list involve real property or ownership directly: to enter into any contract by which the ownership of an immovable is transmitted or acquired either gratuitously or for a valuable consideration, to lease any real property to another person for more than one year, and to create or convey real rights over immovable property. An agent handling any of these for a principal needs authority specific to the act, not just a general mandate to manage affairs.
Money, obligations, and giving things away
The list also covers financial and obligation-related acts: making payments that are not ordinary acts of administration, effecting novations that end existing obligations, compromising a claim or submitting it to arbitration, waiving an obligation gratuitously, and making gifts — except customary charitable ones or those given to employees in a business the agent manages. Borrowing or lending money also requires special authority, unless doing so is urgent and indispensable to preserve property under the agent's administration.
Binding the principal to serious commitments
Other items involve committing the principal to significant obligations toward third parties: binding the principal to a contract of partnership, obligating the principal as a guarantor or surety, and binding the principal to render service without compensation. These share a common thread — they expose the principal to obligations or liabilities that go well beyond ordinary management of existing affairs, which is why Article 1878 will not let a general power of attorney cover them.
Litigation acts, inheritance, and the catch-all
The article further requires special authority to renounce the right to appeal a judgment, waive objections to venue, or abandon an acquired prescription; to accept or repudiate an inheritance; and to ratify obligations contracted before the agency existed. It closes with a broad catch-all: any other act of strict dominion — so the listed items are examples of a wider category too serious to assume.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Reman Recio vs. Heirs of Spouses Aguego and Maria Altamirano, namely Alejandro, et al., all surnamed Altamirano, et al, G.R. No. 182349, July 24, 2013 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Alvin Patrimonio vs. Napoleon Gutierrez and Octavio Marasigan III, G.R. No. 187769, June 4, 2014 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Fil-Estate Properties, Inc. vs. Paulino Reyes, et al, G.R. No. 152797, September 18, 2019 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Cezar Yatco Real Estate Services, Inc., GRD Property Resources, Inc. Gamaliel Pascual, Jr., Ma. Lourdes Limjap Pascual and Aurora Pijuan vs. Bel-air Village Association, Inc. Represented…, G.R. No. 211780, November 21, 2018 — read the decision on LawPhil →