The Civil Code of the Philippines

The Civil Code is the foundation of Philippine private law — it governs the effect of laws, human relations, persons, property, the different modes of acquiring ownership (including succession), and obligations and contracts. It was approved on June 18, 1949 and took effect on August 30, 1950.

We are publishing it article by article: the official text of each provision, a plain-language annotation, and the cases that determine how it is read today. Articles are added as they are annotated and reviewed — a working library, not a dump. (The Code's original provisions on marriage and family relations were repealed by the Family Code and are covered there, not here.)

Preliminary Title, Chapter 1 — Effect and Application of Laws

• Article 1 — Title of the Code. Published.
• Article 2 — When Laws Take Effect. Published.
• Article 3 — Ignorance of the Law Excuses No One. Published.
• Article 4 — No Retroactive Effect of Laws. Published.
• Article 5 — Acts Against Mandatory or Prohibitory Laws Are Void. Published.
• Article 6 — Waiver of Rights. Published.
• Article 7 — How Laws Are Repealed; Supremacy of the Constitution. Published.
• Article 8 — Judicial Decisions Form Part of the Law. Published.
• Article 9 — Duty of Courts to Decide. Published.
• Article 10 — Presumption of Right and Justice. Published.
• Article 11 — Customs Contrary to Law. Published.
• Article 12 — Custom Must Be Proved. Published.
• Article 13 — Computation of Periods. Published.
• Article 14 — Territoriality of Penal Laws. Published.
• Article 15 — Nationality Rule (Status and Capacity). Published.
• Article 17 — Forms of Acts; Lex Loci Celebrationis. Published.
• Article 18 — Civil Code as Suppletory Law. Published.

Preliminary Title, Chapter 2 — Human Relations

• Article 19 — Abuse of Rights (Principle of Human Relations). Published.
• Article 20 — Damage Contrary to Law. Published.
• Article 22 — Unjust Enrichment (Accion In Rem Verso). Published.
• Article 23 — Liability for Benefit Received Without Fault. Published.
• Article 24 — Protection of the Disadvantaged Party. Published.
• Article 25 — Restraint of Thoughtless Extravagance. Published.
• Article 26 — Respect for Dignity, Privacy and Peace of Mind. Published.
• Article 28 — Unfair Competition. Published.
• Article 29 — Civil Action After Acquittal on Reasonable Doubt. Published.
• Article 30 — Separate Civil Action for Civil Liability From a Crime. Published.
• Article 31 — Civil Action Independent of the Criminal. Published.
• Article 33 — Independent Civil Action (Defamation, Fraud, Physical Injuries). Published.
• Article 34 — Liability of Police for Refusing Aid. Published.
• Article 35 — Civil Action Where No Criminal Case Prospers. Published.
• Article 36 — Prejudicial Questions. Published.

Book I, Title I — Civil Personality

• Article 37 — Juridical Capacity and Capacity to Act. Published.
• Article 38 — Restrictions on Capacity to Act. Published.
• Article 39 — Circumstances Modifying Capacity to Act. Published.
• Article 40 — Birth Determines Personality. Published.
• Article 42 — Death Extinguishes Personality. Published.
• Article 43 — Presumption on Simultaneous Death. Published.
• Article 44 — Who Are Juridical Persons. Published.
• Article 45 — Laws Governing Juridical Persons. Published.
• Article 46 — Powers of Juridical Persons. Published.

Book I, Title II — Citizenship and Domicile

• Article 49 — Naturalization and Citizenship Governed by Special Laws. Published.
• Article 50 — Domicile of Natural Persons. Published.