1. Presumption of Capacity to Act

Presumption of Capacity to Act

Concept

Capacity to act is the power to do acts with legal effect. Article 37 says it is acquired and may be lost. The supplied provisions do not state an express, general presumption that every person has capacity to act. The sound starting point is therefore to identify the act in question and ask whether a legally relevant restriction or limitation applies. (Art. 37, Civil Code)¹ (Art. 39, Civil Code)²

Governing provisions

• Article 37 distinguishes capacity to act from juridical capacity. Juridical capacity is inherent in every natural person and is lost only through death; capacity to act is acquired and may be lost. (Art. 37, Civil Code)¹
• Article 38 identifies restrictions on capacity to act and makes clear that a restricted person may still have obligations arising from acts or property relations. (Art. 38, Civil Code)³
• Article 39 identifies circumstances that modify or limit capacity to act and directs the reader to the governing law for their consequences. (Art. 39, Civil Code)²

Requisites / Rules

• First, distinguish the ability to be the subject of legal relations from the power to perform the particular act with legal effect. A question about a person's capacity to act is not, by itself, a question about whether that person has juridical capacity. (Art. 37, Civil Code)¹
• Next, check for a relevant modifying circumstance. Article 39 lists age, insanity, imbecility, the state of being a deaf-mute, penalty, prodigality, family relations, alienage, absence, insolvency, and trusteeship, among others. Their consequences are governed by the Civil Code, other codes, the Rules of Court, and special laws. (Art. 39, Civil Code)²
• Finally, consider the act-specific requirement. Under the Family Code, legal capacity of the contracting parties is an essential requisite of marriage, and the parties must declare before the solemnizing officer, in the presence of at least two witnesses of legal age, that they take each other as husband and wife. (Art. 2, Family Code)⁴ (Art. 6, Family Code)⁵

Distinctions

A restriction on capacity to act does not erase juridical capacity. Nor does it automatically free the person from obligations: Article 38 expressly preserves certain obligations arising from the person's acts or from property relations, such as easements. (Art. 37, Civil Code)¹ (Art. 38, Civil Code)³

Key doctrines

Do not treat a supposed presumption as a substitute for the governing provision. Article 39 says that capacity to act is not limited on account of religious belief or political opinion. It also states, in a historical reference that should not be applied as the current age-of-majority rule, that a married woman twenty-one years of age or over is qualified for all acts of civil life, except in cases specified by law. (Art. 39, Civil Code)² Majority begins at eighteen, and capacity remains subject to restrictions under current law. (Art. 234, Civil Code, as amended by RA 6809, Sec. 1)

Exceptions

Any conclusion about capacity to perform a particular act remains subject to the limitations and consequences supplied by the applicable law. Conversely, the circumstances listed in Article 38 are restrictions, not a blanket exemption from obligations. (Art. 39, Civil Code)² (Art. 38, Civil Code)³

Bar tip

If a question invokes a “presumption of capacity,” first distinguish juridical capacity from capacity to act, then identify the act and any applicable limitation. Do not attribute an express general presumption to Articles 37–39. (Art. 37, Civil Code)¹ (Art. 39, Civil Code)²