PRE-WEEK REVIEW POINTERS & PREDICTIONS

in

Civil Law

by:

Prof. Arturo M. de Castro

Civil Law under the Civil Code is a very important because it is the most
comprehensive law governing human relations, succession, property and contractual
relations, quasi-contracts based on prevention of unjust enrichment, quasi-delicts and
damages.

The Civil Code, has suppletory application to special laws, like the Negotiable
Instruments law, unless the special law provides otherwise. While a check is not legal
tender and produces the effect of payment only upon encashment, where a check is
accepted as a form of payment, the creditor cannot sue on the obligation in the
meantime before its maturity and dishonor.

Mastery of the Civil Law is an essential element for success in law practice
because in the enforcement of a right or the redress of a wrong, Remedial Law applies
the substantive rules in the civil law, such as when the law takes, effect, proof of filiation
and use of surname of illegitimate children, annulment of marriage due to psychological
incapacity, requisites of a valid marriage, void and voidable marriage, recognition of
foreign divorce and the application of the nationality principle, legitime of different kinds
of heirs, presumptive legitime, donations and other modes of acquiring ownership,
prescriptive periods and the causes for their interruption, the different kinds of
obligations and their sources and causes for their extinguishment, the characteristics of
contracts and their different kinds, the forms of contracts and their enforceability, sale
and assignment of credit, distinction between subrogation of the right of creditor and
assignment of credit, and the pre-judicial question doctrine.

Because of its importance in my view, Civil Law Review has the most
comprehensive treatment in my hand-outs consolidated in two (2) volumes of my Study
Guide for the Bar (May 6 and August 25, 2006, Rex Editions) containing not only
digests of recent leading cases and legislation, but also a simple outline of the Civil
Code in question and answer format.

For the coverage of the 2006 Bar Examination in Civil Law, which is exactly the
same as the coverage in the 2005 Bar Examination, and the digests of recent cases
and legislation from 2003 to 2006, please read pages 86 to 104 of the 1 st Study Guide
for the Bar (May 6, 2006, Rex Edition) and pages 62 to 163 of the 2 nd Study Guide for
the Bar (August 25, 2006, Rex Edition) and also the Hand-Outs on Special Contracts
distributed during the advance Pre-Bar Lecture on Civil Law at the National Pre-Bar
Review Consortium and at the UP Law Center. The Manila Law College Green Notes
have all my materials. Also Lyceum, U.E. and Ateneo where I teach regular courses.

The specific predictions with questions and answers format shall be released
after my Pre-Week lecture in Civil Law at the Manila Law College from 5:00 to 9:00
P.M. Tuesday, September 5, 2006. Open to outsiders at a nominal fee of Php250.00
per subject, including the Hand-Outs. Same Pre-Week Schedule for the Succeeding Bar
Subject.