Marriage as a contract

1. What is the policy in regard to marriage as a contract

The policy of the state to marriage as a contract is that it is a special contract unlike an ordinary civil
contract. It is treated differently because of its peculiar nature. Unlike an ordinary contract, it is
inviolable and its incidents is governed by law.

As differentiated from a simple contract, Marriage has more stringent requirements. Marriage imposes
more requirements for its validity although it also stems from the basic elements; parties, consent, and
consideration . In marriage, the parties must be a Man and a woman, and both must have legal capcity
(which is 18 years of age) and that there must be a consent given in the presence of a solemizing officer.
This requirements is only necessary for Contract of marriage and need not be present in any other
contract.

Upon entering a contract of marriage it has variety of legal implications. Such as in the case of how is it
is extinguished, ordinary modes of extinguishment does not apply, the law specfically provides the
grounds for its nullity in cases if it is void or voidable as the case may be.

Moreover, the contract of marriage can never be terminated at will or can be rescinded unilaterally.
Unlike other contracts where it can be rescinded only subject to damages when it is proper. Such that if
there is a violation of duties in a contract of marriage it will give rise to PENAL and CIVIL liabilities, and
even if this liabilities are satisfied the marriage continues to subsist.

Marriage as A status

The effect of Marriage as a status is that the State becomes interested of the parties involved. Moreover
since it is a status, it is always governed by the Nationality rule wherein the law of the nationality of the
person shall apply.

EXTRINSIC VALIDITY OF MARRIAGE

C.1 Various law on the extrinsic validity

• Authority of the solemnizing offiecer

• A valid marriage license

• A marriage ceremony which takes place with the apperance o the contracting parties before the
soleminizing officer and their personal declaration that they take each other as husband and
wife in the presence of not less than 2 witnesses of legal age.

C.2 Exceptions to lex loci celebrationis

• Either or both parties are below 18 years of age

• it bigamous or polygamous marriages

• Those contracted through mistake of one contracting party as to the idnetity of the other

• Subsequent marriage is performed without recording the Civil Registry and Registry of properties
 the judgement of the annulment or declaration, the partition and distribution of the children's
presumptive legitime

• One of the parties is psycholigcally incapcitated to comply with the essential marital obligations

• THe marriage is incestious

• Marriage is void by reasons of public policy

• Between collateral blood relatives, whether legitamte or illegitamte, up to the 4th civil
degree

• Between step-parents and step-children

• between parents-in law and children in-law

• Betweeing the adopting parent and the adopted child

• Between the surviving sppuse of the adopting partens and the adopted child

• between the surviving spouse of the adopted child and the adopter

• between an adopted child and a legitamte child of the adopter

• between the adopted children of the same adopter

• between partes where one, with the intention to marry the other, killed that other person's
spouse or his or her own spouse.

INSTRINSIC VALIDITY OF MARRIAGE

C.1

It refers to the capacity of the general ability of the person to marry for instances defined by
requirements of age and parental consent.

1. the parties must be at least 18 years of age

2. Consent freely given in the presence of an atuhorized solemnizing officer

Effects of Marriage

1. Personal Relations between spouses

If the spouses are of different nationalities, the law of the husband prevails as long as it is not contrary to
law, customs and good morals of the forum

2. Property relations of the Spouses

Hague convention states that the internal law designated by the spouses before their marriage, in the
absence thereof, the internal law of the sate in which the spouses have their first habitual residence
EXCEPT:

1. Both Spouses are aliens

2. With respect to the extrinsic validity of contracts affecting property not situated in the Philippines

3. With respect ot the extrinsic validity of the contracts entered into the philippines but affecting
property situated in foreign country whose laws requires different formalities for its intrinsic validity

4. The property relations of the spouses where one is filipino and an alien would still be governed by the
Philippine laws whether the Filipino is the husband or wife. If one of the spouses changed his nationality
after their marriage, property regime will still be governed by the Philippine laws in accordance with the
principle of Immutability.

Adoption.

1. Conflict rules on adoption

The process of adoption is a matter affecting the status of the parties and is necessarily governed by lex
domicili