Text of the provision
Art. 1631. One who sells for a lump sum the whole of certain rights, rents, or products, shall comply by answering for the legitimacy of the whole in general; but he shall not be obliged to warrant each of the various parts of which it may be composed, except in the case of eviction from the whole or the part of greater value.
(1532a)
Civil Code of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 386, approved June 18, 1949, effective August 30, 1950. Reproduced in full; verified verbatim against the LawPhil and ChanRobles official-text renderings.
What this article means
One who sells the whole of certain rights, rents, or products for a lump sum warrants the legitimacy of the whole, not each part — except on eviction from the whole or a major part.
A lump-sum sale of rights, rents, or products is treated differently from a sale of specifically enumerated items. Because the price was fixed for the whole collection rather than allocated item by item, the seller's warranty attaches to the collection as a whole — he answers for the overall legitimacy of what he sold, but not for defects in any single component, since the buyer never bargained for guarantees on each piece individually. The exception restores individual-level protection only where the eviction is total, or where it strips away the part that gave the bulk sale most of its value.
Questions about this provision
- I bought a bundle of rights for a single lump sum, does the seller guarantee each individual right?
- I sold all my rights and rents over a property for a lump sum. If the buyer loses just one minor right to eviction, am I liable?
Related provisions
- Article 1630 — Sale of an Inheritance in Bulk.
- Article 1632 — Fruits Already Received by the Seller of an Inheritance.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.