Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
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ralization is the legal act of adopting an alien and clothing him with
the political and civil rights belonging to a citizen. Naturalized
citizens, freed from the protective cloak of their former states, don
the attires of their adoptive countries. By becoming an Australian,
respondent severed his allegiance to the Philippines and the
vinculum juris that had tied him to Philippine personal laws.
Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; The burden of proof lies with
the party who alleges the existence of a fact or thing necessary in the
prosecution or defense of an action; Where a divorce decree is a
defense raised by a party, the burden of proving the pertinent
foreign law validating it falls squarely upon him.—The burden of
proof lies with “the party who alleges the existence of a fact or thing
necessary in the prosecution or defense of an action.” In civil cases,
plaintiffs have the burden of proving the material allegations of the
complaint when those are denied by the answer; and defendants
have the burden of proving the material allegations in their answer
when they introduce new matters. Since the divorce was a defense
raised by respondent, the burden of proving the pertinent
Australian law validating it falls squarely upon him.
Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; Judicial Notice; Our courts do
not take judicial notice of foreign laws—like any other facts, they
must be alleged and proved.—It is well-settled in our jurisdiction
that our courts cannot take judicial notice of foreign laws. Like any
other facts, they must be alleged and proved. Australian marital
laws are not among those matters that judges are supposed to know
by reason of their judicial function. The power of judicial notice
must be exercised with caution, and every reasonable doubt upon
the subject should be resolved in the negative.
Same; Same; Same; Same; Words and Phrases; In its strict legal
sense, divorce means the legal dissolution of a lawful union for a
cause arising after marriage; A decree nisi or an interlocutory order
—a conditional or provisional judgment of divorce—is in effect the
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Article 21 of the Family Code was not submitted together with the
application for a marriage license. According to her, its absence is
proof that respondent did not have legal capacity to remarry. We
clarify. To repeat, the legal capacity to contract marriage is
determined by the national law of the party concerned. The
certificate mentioned in Article 21 of the Family Code would have
been sufficient to establish the legal capacity of respondent, had he
duly presented it in court. A duly authenticated and admitted
certificate is prima facie evidence of legal capacity to marry on the
part of the alien applicant for a marriage license.
Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; The absence of a certificate of
legal capacity is merely an irregularity in complying with the
formal requirements for procuring a marriage license, an
irregularity which will not affect the validity of a marriage
celebrated on the basis of a marriage license issued without that
certificate.—In passing, we note that the absence of the said
certificate is merely an irregularity in complying with the for-
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Same; Same; Same; Same; The Court may not declare the
second marriage of a divorcee null and void on the ground of
bigamy where there is a possibility that, under the foreign law, the
divorcee was really capacitated to remarry as a result of the divorce
decree—the most judicious course is to remand the case to the trial
court to receive evidence, if any, which show the divorcee’s legal
capacity to remarry.—Neither can we grant petitioner’s prayer to
declare her marriage to respondent null and void on the ground of
bigamy. After all, it may turn out that under Australian law, he
was really capacitated to marry petitioner as a direct result of the
divorce decree. Hence, we believe that the most judicious course is to
remand this case to the trial court to receive evidence, if any, which
show petitioner’s legal capacity to marry petitioner. Failing in that,
then the court a quo may declare a nullity of the parties’ marriage
on the ground of bigamy, there being already in evidence two
existing marriage certificates, which were both obtained in the
Philippines, one in Malabon, Metro Manila dated March 1, 1987
and the other, in Cabanatuan City dated January 12, 1994.
PANGANIBAN, J.:
The Case
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The Facts
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4 Rollo, p. 37.
5 Ibid., p. 47.
6 Id., p. 44.
7 Id., p. 36.
8 Annex “1”; Temporary Rollo, p. 9.
9 The couple secured an Australian “Statutory Declaration” of their
legal separation and division of conjugal assets. See Annexes “3” and “4”
of Respondent’s Comment; Rollo, p. 48.
10 Id., pp. 33-35.
11 Id., p. 39.
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Issues
“1
The trial court gravely erred in finding that the divorce decree
obtained in Australia by the respondent ipso facto terminated his
first marriage to Editha Samson thereby capacitating him to
contract a second marriage with the petitioner.
“2
“3
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“4
“5
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First Issue:
Proving the Divorce Between
Respondent and Editha Samson
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and (2) the alleged divorce decree itself. She adds that
respondent miserably failed to establish these elements.
Petitioner adds that, based on the first paragraph of
Article 26 of the Family Code, marriages solemnized abroad
are governed by the law of the place where they were
celebrated (the lex loci celebrationis). In effect, the Code
requires the presentation of the foreign law to show the
conformity of the marriage in question to the legal
requirements of the place where the marriage was
performed.
At the outset, we lay the following basic legal principles
as the take-off points for our discussion. Philippine law does
not provide
21
for absolute divorce; hence, our courts cannot
grant it. A marriage between two Filipinos cannot be
dissolved even
22
by 23a divorce obtained abroad, because of
Articles 15 and 17 of the
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license with the proper local civil registrar which shall specify the
following:
x x x x x x x x x
“(5) If previously married, how, when and where the previous
marriage was dissolved or annulled;
x x x x x x x x x”
“ART. 13. In case either of the contracting parties has been
previously married, the applicant shall be required to furnish,
instead of the birth or baptismal certificate required in the last
preceding article, the death certificate of the deceased spouse or the
judicial decree of the absolute divorce, or the judicial decree of
annulment or declaration of nullity of his or her previous marriage,
x x x.
“ART. 52. The judgment of annulment or of absolute nullity of
the marriage, the partition and distribution of the properties of the
spouses, and the delivery of the children’s presumptive legitimes
shall be recorded in the appropriate civil registry and registries of
property; otherwise, the same shall not affect their persons.”
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“(a) The written official acts, or records of the official acts of the
sovereign authority, official bodies and tribunals, and public
officers, whether in the Philippines, or of a foreign country.
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x x x x x x x x x.
31 Burr W. Jones, Commentaries on the Law of Evidence in Civil
Cases, Vol. IV, 1926 ed., p. 3511; §3, Rule 130 of the Rules on Evidence
provides that “when the subject of inquiry is the contents of a document,
no evidence shall be admissible other than the original document itself.”
32 “SEC. 19. Classes of documents.—For the purpose of their
presentation in evidence, documents are either public or private. Public
documents are:
(a) The written official acts, or records of the official acts of the
sovereign authority, official bodies and tribunals, and public
officers, whether in the Philippines, or of a foreign country.
x x x x x x x x x.”
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zen. Naturalized citizens, freed from the protective cloak of
their former states, don the attires of their adoptive
countries. By becoming an Australian, respondent severed
his allegiance to the Philippines and the vinculum juris that
had tied him to Philippine personal laws.
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rial function. The power of judicial notice must be exercised
with caution, and every reasonable doubt upon the subject
should be resolved in the negative.
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