Philippine Civil Law Glossary explains important terms involving property, inheritance, contracts, obligations and civil liability. Each definition links to related terms and to full guides for procedures, evidence, remedies and practical next steps.
The glossary is designed for education. Every entry begins with the legal definition in English and then adds a plain-language Filipino explanation to make the concept easier to understand. The Filipino wording is supplementary and is not an official translation of the controlling law. The glossary will expand continuously in controlled waves. For answers in question form, see the frequently asked civil law questions and the civil law bar exam questions; for the most searched personal-law term, see what civil status means.
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- Property and ownership
- Succession and inheritance
- Obligations and contracts
- Damages and civil liability
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- Adverse possession — Salungat na paghawak o pag-angkin
- Co ownership — Magkakasamang pagmamay-ari
- Compulsory heir — Sapilitang tagapagmana
- Contract of sale — Kontrata ng bentahan
- Default or delay — Legal na pagkaantala o mora
- Earnest money — Paunang bayad na bahagi ng presyo
- Extrajudicial settlement — Labas-hukumang pag-aayos ng ari-arian
- Fortuitous event — Hindi inaasahan o hindi maiiwasang pangyayari
- Legitime — Nakalaang bahagi ng mana
- Novation — Pagpapalit o mahalagang pagbabago ng obligasyon
- Option money — Bayad para panatilihing bukas ang alok
- Possession — Paghawak o aktuwal na pagkontrol
- Preterition — Ganap na pagkakaligta sa compulsory heir
- Proximate cause — Legal na tuwiran at mabisang sanhi
- Quasi delict — Pananagutang sibil dahil sa kapabayaan
- Representation — Paghalili sa mana
- Rescission — Pagpapawalang-bisa o pagbawi ng kontrata
- Right of way — Karapatang dumaan
- Solidary obligation — Pananagutang solidaryo
- Usufruct — Karapatang gumamit at makinabang sa ari-arian ng iba
Property terms
- Co ownership — Co-ownership exists when ownership of one undivided thing or right belongs to two or more persons. Each co-owner owns an ideal or proportional share in the whole property, not a physically identified portion unless the property is partitioned.
- Right of way — A compulsory right of way is a legal easement that may allow the owner of land surrounded by other properties, and without adequate access to a public highway, to pass through neighboring land upon compliance with the law.
- Adverse possession — Adverse possession describes possession held openly and under a claim of ownership against the interests of another. In Philippine civil law, the related method of acquiring ownership is acquisitive prescription, which requires the kind of possession and period prescribed by law.
- Usufruct — Usufruct is the right to enjoy property belonging to another person while preserving its form and substance, unless the title creating the usufruct or the law provides otherwise. The usufructuary may use the property and receive its fruits but does not become its owner.
- Possession — Possession is the holding or enjoyment of a thing or the exercise of a right. A person may possess property as an owner or merely as a holder who recognizes another person’s ownership, such as a tenant, borrower or caretaker.
Succession terms
- Compulsory heir — A compulsory heir is a person whom the law generally reserves a portion of the decedent’s estate for. That reserved portion is the heir’s legitime, subject to the order, concurrence and exclusions established by succession law.
- Legitime — The legitime is the portion of a person’s estate that the law reserves for compulsory heirs. A testator generally cannot freely give away this reserved portion through a will because the free portion begins only after the legitimes are protected.
- Preterition — Preterition is the total omission of one, some or all compulsory heirs in the direct line from the institution of heirs in a will, without the heir being expressly disinherited and without receiving anything by another title under the relevant succession.
- Extrajudicial settlement — An extrajudicial settlement is a method by which qualified heirs divide an estate without a full judicial administration proceeding. It is available only when the requirements of Rule 74 are satisfied, including the absence of a will and outstanding estate debts under the rule.
- Representation — Representation is a right created by law through which a representative is raised to the place and degree of another person and receives the inheritance that the represented person would have received under the applicable rules.
Contracts terms
- Contract of sale — A contract of sale is an agreement in which the seller obligates himself or herself to transfer ownership and deliver a determinate thing, while the buyer obligates himself or herself to pay a price certain in money or its equivalent.
- Earnest money — Earnest money is money given in a contract of sale as proof of the perfection of the contract and, unless the parties validly stipulate otherwise, forms part of the purchase price. Its legal effect depends on the agreement and the surrounding facts, not merely the label on a receipt.
- Option money — Option money is the separate consideration paid or promised for an option contract, under which the offeror agrees to keep an offer open for a specified period. It is not automatically part of the purchase price and does not by itself prove that a sale has already been perfected.
- Rescission — Rescission can refer to distinct remedies in Philippine civil law. Rescission under Articles 1380 to 1389 is a subsidiary remedy for rescissible contracts that cause legally recognized damage. Article 1191 concerns resolution of reciprocal obligations because of substantial breach, although decisions and practitioners have also called it rescission.
Obligations terms
- Default or delay — Default, also called legal delay or mora, is a culpable delay in performing an obligation after the debtor or obligor has become legally bound to perform and the requirements for delay are present. Ordinary lateness is not always legal default.
- Solidary obligation — A solidary obligation is one in which each solidary debtor may be required to perform the entire obligation, or each solidary creditor may be entitled to demand the entire performance, subject to the applicable relationship and rights among the parties.
- Novation — Novation extinguishes or modifies an existing obligation by replacing it with a new one through a change in the object or principal conditions, substitution of the debtor, or subrogation of a third person in the creditor’s rights.
- Fortuitous event — A fortuitous event is an event that could not be foreseen or, although foreseen, was inevitable. It may excuse liability when it is independent of the debtor’s will and makes proper performance impossible, provided the debtor did not contribute to the loss and no exception applies.
Liability terms
- Quasi delict — A quasi-delict arises when a person, through fault or negligence, causes damage to another and there is no pre-existing contractual relationship governing that wrongful act. It is an independent source of civil obligation commonly associated with negligence claims.
- Proximate cause — Proximate cause is the cause that, in a natural and continuous sequence unbroken by an efficient intervening cause, produces the injury and without which the result would not have occurred. It connects negligent conduct to legally recoverable harm.