G.R. No. L-11872 December 1, 1917
DOMINGO MERCADO and JOSEFA MERCADO, plaintiffs-appellants,
vs.JOSE ESPIRITU, administrator of the estate of the deceased Luis
Espiritu, defendant-appellee.FACTS:1) Complaint directed against
Jose Espiritu in his capacity of his administrator of the estate of
the deceased Luis Espiritu. Domingo and Josefa alleged that they
and their sisters Concepcion and Paz are the children and sole
heirs of Margarita Espiritu, a sister of the deceased Luis
Espiritu2) Margarita Espiritu died in 1897, leaving as her
paraphernal property a tract of land of 48 hectares in Calumpit,
Bulacan. Administrator is their father Wenceslao Mercado, husband
of Margarita Espiritu3) 1910: Luis Espiritu, by means of cajolery,
induced, and fraudulently succeeded in getting the plaintiffs
Domingo and Josefa Mercado to sign a deed of sale of the land left
by their mother, for the sum of P400, notwithstanding the fact that
said land, according to its assessment, was valued at P3,795 (they
say they were still minors when they executed the deed of sale!)4)
Luis Espiritu had received the produced rice from 1901 until the
time of his death. Plaintiffs prayed that contract be declared null
and void and that Espiritu be ordered to deliver and restore to the
plaintiffs the shares of the land
DEFENSE: Margarita, with the due authorization of her husband
Wenceslao sold to Luis for the sum of P2,000 a portion of said
land. Subsequently, Wenceslao, in his capacity as administrator of
the property of his children sold under pacto de retro to Luis at
the price of P375 the remainder of the said land to meet the
expenses of the maintenance of his (Wenceslao's) children. The
amount being still insufficient Wenceslao successively borrowed
from Luis other sums of money aggregating a total of P600. Later,
on May 17,1910, the plaintiffs (children), alleging themselves to
be of legal age, executed the notarial instrument ratifying said
sale under pacto de retro of the land. They sold absolutely and
perpetually to Luis, in consideration of P400, the property.
LC: in favor of Espiritu
ISSUE: W/n there was fraud
HELD: No.
Luis Espiritu was, during his lifetime, and now, after his
death, his testate or intestate estate is in lawful possession of
the parcel of land by virtue of the title of conveyance of
ownership by plaintiffs. The plaintiffs' father, Wenceslao Mercado,
recognizing it to be perfectly true that his wife Margarita
Espiritu sold said parcel of land, at the request of his
brother-in-law Luis Espiritu he had no objection to give the
testimony recorded in said notarial instrument.
The principal defect attributed consists in that when it was
executed that they signed it, they were minors (not yet 21 yo). The
sale of real estate, made by minors who pretend to be of legal age,
when in fact they are not, is valid, and they will not be permitted
to excuse themselves from the fulfillment of the obligations
contracted by them, or to have them annulled in pursuance of the
provisions of Law.
Aside from the foregoing, it cannot be concluded that the
plaintiffs, who claim to have minors when they executed the
notarial instrument, have suffered positive and actual losses and
damages in their rights and interests as a result of the execution
of said document, inasmuch as the sale effected by the plaintiffs'
mother, Margarita Espiritu. And that they received through their
father, the benefit which must have accrued to them from the sums
of money received as loans.
Decision affirmed.
