Text of the provision
Art. 51. When the law creating or recognizing them, or any other provision does not fix the domicile of juridical persons, the same shall be understood to be the place where their legal representation is established or where they exercise their principal functions.
(41a)
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 renderings and the Official Gazette, all three of which agree word for word.
What this article means
The counterpart to Article 50's rule for natural persons. A juridical person's domicile is fixed first by the law that creates or recognizes it — a charter, articles of incorporation, or a special law may state it directly. Only when no such provision fixes a domicile does the Code supply a default: the place where the entity's legal representation is established, or where it exercises its principal functions. This is the historical root of the modern rule (now largely administered through the Corporation Code/Revised Corporation Code) that a corporation's domicile is the place stated in its articles of incorporation as its principal office.
Related provisions
- Article 50 — Domicile of Natural Persons.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.