Francisco Irureta Goyena v. Ildefonso Tambunting

Summary

This 1902 Supreme Court case established important principles for real property sales contracts. Defendant Tambunting agreed to buy a specific lot for P3,200 but later refused to pay when he discovered the lot was smaller than the broker had represented. The Court held that where parties agree on a specific property for a fixed total price, the buyer cannot demand price reduction due to area discrepancies. The Court distinguished between sales at fixed prices versus sales at per-unit rates, applying Civil Code Article 1471 rather than Article 1469. The decision emphasized that written contract terms control over subjective intentions, and that a perfected sale contract creates binding mutual obligations regardless of the parties' private expectations about the property's characteristics.