Text of the provision

Art. 1. Marriage is a special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life. It is the foundation of the family and an inviolable social institution whose nature, consequences, and incidents are governed by law and not subject to stipulation, except that marriage settlements may fix the property relations during the marriage within the limits provided by this Code.

(52a)

Family Code of the Philippines, Executive Order No. 209, approved July 6, 1987. The Code took effect on August 3, 1988 (Republic v. Orbecido III, G.R. No. 154380, October 5, 2005). Reproduced in full.

What this article means

Article 1 opens the Code by defining marriage as a special contract — special because, unlike an ordinary contract, its terms are not left to the parties. Its "nature, consequences, and incidents are governed by law," not by stipulation. The one narrow exception is property: spouses may fix their property relations by a marriage settlement, but only within the limits the Code itself allows.

The article also calls marriage the foundation of the family and an inviolable social institution. That framing is why the grounds for treating a marriage as void (Article 35) or voidable (Article 45) are narrow and specific, rather than left to the parties' agreement to simply undo.

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Cases citing this article

Compiled automatically from Supreme Court decisions published on LawPhil that expressly cite this article, most frequently cited first. A listing means the decision cites the provision — it is not a statement that the case is the leading authority, and it does not show whether a ruling has since been modified or abandoned. Always read the decision itself.

Note. The text of the provision above is reproduced in full from the official enactment. The annotation, case summaries and commentary around it are the work of Vivas & Nobles Law Office and are general legal information, not legal advice. Whether this provision applies to a particular marriage depends on facts that only a lawyer reviewing your situation can assess.