D. Mandatory and Prohibitory Laws

D. Mandatory, Prohibitory and Permissive Laws (Civil Code, art. 5)

> Article 5. Acts executed against the provisions of mandatory or prohibitory laws shall be void, except when the law itself authorizes their validity. (4a)

Mandatory law

A law or a provision in a statute is said to be mandatory when disobedience to it, or want of exact compliance with it, will generally make the act done under the statute void, unless the law itself authorizes its validity. (Black’s Law Dictionary, 2009)

Laws covered

Art. 3 of the NCC provides that ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance therewith. (Rabuya, 2006)

Prohibitory law

A law or a provision in a statute is said to be prohibitory when it forbids a certain action. (Black’s Law Dictionary, 2009)

Violation of Mandatory or Prohibitory Laws

GR: Acts executed against the provisions of mandatory or prohibitory laws shall be void. (NCC, Art. 5)

Exceptions: When the law:

• Itself authorizes its validity (e.g. lotto, sweepstakes);
• Makes the act valid despite the violation in circumstances specified by law (e.g. a marriage solemnized by a person without legal authority, if either or both parties believed in good faith that the person had authority, Family Code, Art. 35(2));
• Makes the act merely voidable;
• Declares the nullity of an act but recognizes its effects as legally existing (e.g. children conceived or born before the judgment declaring a marriage void under Family Code, Art. 36 becomes final and executory are considered legitimate, Family Code, Art. 54).