Text of the provision
Art. 42. Civil personality is extinguished by death. The effect of death upon the rights and obligations of the deceased is determined by law, by contract and by will.
(32a)
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
Just as birth begins personality, death ends it. What happens to the deceased's rights and obligations afterward is settled by three sources: the law (chiefly the rules on succession), the deceased's contracts (some end at death, others pass to heirs), and the will. Purely personal rights die with the person; patrimonial ones generally transmit to the estate and heirs.
Related provisions
- Article 43 — presumption when the order of deaths is doubtful.
- Article 774 — succession as the mode transmitting a decedent's estate (once built).
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.
Note. The text of the provision above is reproduced in full from the official enactment (Republic Act No. 386), verified against the LawPhil and ChanRobles renderings. The annotation and commentary around it are the work of Vivas & Nobles Law Office and are general legal information, not legal advice. How a provision applies to a particular situation depends on facts that only a lawyer reviewing your case can assess.