CASE DIGESTS UNDER DE LEON BOOK ON LAW ON SALES (CHAPTER 2)

SALE MADE BY MINORS always an interested party to all matters involving taxable
transactions and, needless to say, qualified to question their validity
Article 1489. All persons who are authorized in this Code to obligate or legitimacy whenever necessary to block tax evasion.
themselves, may enter into a contract of sale, saving the modifications
contained in the following articles. RELATIVE INCAPACITY TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT OF SALE

Where necessaries are those sold and delivered to a minor or other Article 1491. The following persons cannot acquire by purchase, even
person without capacity to act, he must pay a reasonable price at a public or judicial auction, either in person or through the mediation
therefor. Necessaries are those referred to in article 290. of another:

Mercado and Mercado vs. Espiritu (G.R. No. L-11872, 1 (1) The guardian, the property of the person or persons who may be
December 1917) under his guardianship;

Facts: (2) Agents, the property whose administration or sale may have been
The case was about the contract made by Luis Espiritu (father of intrusted to them, unless the consent of the principal has been given;
Jose Espiritu, the defendant) and the heirs of his sister Margarita
Mercado; Domingo and Josepha Mercado, who pretended to be of (3) Executors and administrators, the property of the estate under
legal age to give their consent into the contract of sale of the land administration;
they inherited from their deceased mother Margarita Mercado
(sister of Luis Mercado). The siblings Domingo et. al., sought for the (4) Public officers and employees, the property of the State or of any
annulment of contract asserting that Domingo and Josepha were subdivision thereof, or of any government-owned or controlled
minors during the perfection of contract. corporation, or institution, the administration of which has been
intrusted to them; this provision shall apply to judges and government
Issue: experts who, in any manner whatsoever, take part in the sale;
Is the sale valid considering that the minors represented
themselves as of legal age at the time the sale was made? (5) Justices, judges, prosecuting attorneys, clerks of superior and
inferior courts, and other officers and employees connected with the
Ruling: administration of justice, the property and rights in litigation or levied
The sale is nonetheless VALID. Whenever a party has, by its own upon an execution before the court within whose jurisdiction or territory
declaration, act or omission, intentionally and deliberately led they exercise their respective functions; this prohibition includes the act
another party to believe a particular thing to be true, and to act upon of acquiring by assignment and shall apply to lawyers, with respect to
such belief, he cannot, in any litigation arising out of such the property and rights which may be the object of any litigation in
declaration, cannot be permitted to falsify it. Furthermore, the sale which they may take part by virtue of their profession;
of real estate made by a minor who pretend to be of legal age,
when in fact he is not, is VALID, and he will not be permitted to (6) Any others specially disqualified by law. (1459a)
excuse himself from the fulfillment of the obligations contracted by
him or to have it annulled. The judgment that holds such sale to be Case under Article 1491, Paragraph 2  Prohibition with regard to
valid and absolves the purchaser from the complaint filed against Agents
him does not violate the laws relative to the sale of minor’s property,
nor the judicial rules established in consonance therewith. Distajo vs. CA (G.R. No. 112954, August 25, 2000)
Facts:
SALE BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE During the lifetime of Iluminada Abiertas, she designated one of her
sons, Rufo Distajo, to be the administrator of her parcels of land. It
Article 1490. The husband and the wife cannot sell property to each was alleged by petitioner in this case that Rufo cannot acquire the
other, except: property because the Civil code prohibits an administrator from
acquiring the properties under his administration.
(1) When a separation of property was agreed upon in the marriage
settlements; or Can Rufo acquire the properties under his administration?
Yes. Under paragraph (2) of Article 1491, the prohibition against
(2) When there has been a judicial separation of property under article agents purchasing property in their hands for sale or management
191. (1458a) is not absolute. It does not apply if the principal consents to the sale
of the property in the hands of the agent or administrator. In this
Medina vs. Collector of Internal Revenue (G.R. No. L-15113 case, the deeds of sale signed by Iluminada Abiertas shows that
January 28, 1961) she gave consent to the sale of the properties in favor of her son,
Facts: Rufo, who was the administrator of the properties. Thus, the
Antonio Medina married Antonia Rodriguez. Antonio acquired a consent of the principal Iluminada Abiertas removes the transaction
forest concession. He then sold logs cut to different persons thru his out of the prohibition contained in Article 1491(2).
agent, Mariano Osorio. Antonia, on the other hand, engage as a
lumber dealer. She was sold almost all of the logs produced in her
husband’s concession. In turn, Antonia sold the logs bought from
her husband through the same agent, Osorio.

Is the sale between husband and wife allowed?

Can the CIR question the sales considering that it was not a
party to the transaction?
Yes. The government, as correctly pointed out by the Tax Court, is