Jose Soriano v. The Heirs of F. L. Roxas

Summary

This landmark 1905 Supreme Court case established that lease contracts terminable at the will of the tenant do not survive the tenant's death and pass to heirs. Jose Soriano leased property to F.L. Roxas under a modified agreement allowing only the tenant to terminate. When Roxas died in 1897, his heirs continued occupying the property until Soriano sought to eject them in 1902. The Court ruled that such personal leases terminate automatically upon the tenant's death under pre-Civil Code Spanish law, distinguishing them from ordinary leases that bind heirs. The heirs' post-1897 occupation constituted a tacit month-to-month tenancy under the then-effective Civil Code, subject to termination. This decision clarified the non-heritable nature of purely personal lease arrangements and the application of tacit renewal provisions.