Page 50 - Obligations & Contracts Module 1-2

*PERSONS WHO “CANNOT GIVE CONSENT” TO A CONTRACT:

1. Minors

2. Insane or demented persons

3. Illiterates/ deaf-mutes who do not know how to write

4. Intoxicated and under hypnotic spell

5. Art 1331 - person under mistake; mistake may deprive intelligence

6. Art 1338 - person induced by fraud (dolo causante)

*Note: Dolus bonus (usual exaggerations in trade) are not in themselves fraudulent

*RULE ON CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO BY MINORS:

General Rule: VOIDABLE

EXCEPTIONS:

1. Upon reaching age of majority – they ratify the same

2. They were entered unto by a guardian and the court having jurisdiction had approved

3. They were contracts for necessities such as food, but here the persons who are bound to

give them support should pay therefor

4. Minor is estopped for having misrepresented his age and misled the other party (when

age is close to age of majority as in the Mercado v Espiritu & Sia Suan v Alcantara cases)

Note: In the Sia Suan v Alcantara case, there is a strong dissent by J.Padilla to the effect that

the minor cannot be estopped if he is too young to give consent; one that is too young to give

consent is too young to be estopped. Subsequently, in Braganza v Villa-Abrille, the dissent

became the ruling. Minors could not be estopped/ prohibited.