Superseded. The class of child this article speaks of no longer exists. The Family Code abolished the Civil Code’s sub-classes of illegitimate children — the ‘natural’ child, the ‘natural child by legal fiction’ and the rest — leaving a single class of illegitimate children. The text below is reproduced as originally enacted, for reference only; the surname an illegitimate child uses is governed by the Family Code as amended by Republic Act No. 9255, which allows the father’s surname on recognition.
Text of the provision
Art. 367. Natural children by legal fiction shall principally employ the surname of the father.
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
As originally enacted, natural children by legal fiction principally employed the surname of the father.
The phrase legal fiction flags that this category did not arise from the ordinary definition of a natural child — the law extended a comparable status to certain other children even though their parents’ circumstances did not actually meet that definition, so that they could receive analogous treatment, including the surname rule stated here. The result was to make the father’s surname the default across a wider range of children born outside marriage than the strict definition of “natural child” would otherwise cover.
How this article reads today. The category of ‘natural child by legal fiction’ no longer exists. Under Articles 163 and 165 of the Family Code there is a single class of illegitimate children, whose surname is governed by Article 176 of the Family Code as amended by Republic Act No. 9255.
Questions about this provision
Related provisions
- Article 366 — Surname of an Acknowledged Natural Child.
- Article 368 — Surname of Other Illegitimate Children.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.