- Statute
- Civil Code
- Article
- Art. 1878
- Topic
- Nature, Form and Kinds of Agency
- Status
- In force
- Book
- BOOK IV Obligations and Contracts
- Title
- TITLE X AGENCY
- Chapter
- CHAPTER 1 Nature, Form and Kinds of Agency
- Year
- 1949
- Cited by
- Multiple Supreme Court decisions
The provision
Special powers of attorney are necessary in the following cases: (1) To make such payments as are not usually considered as acts of administration; (2) To effect novations which put an end to obligations already in existence at the time the agency was constituted; (3) To compromise, to submit questions to arbitration, to renounce the right to appeal from a judgment, to waive objections to the venue of an action or to abandon a prescription already acquired; (4) To waive any obligation gratuitously; (5) To enter into any contract by which the ownership of an immovable is transmitted or acquired either gratuitously or for a valuable consideration; (6) To make gifts, except customary ones for charity or those made to employees in the business managed by the agent; (7) To loan or borrow money, unless the latter act be urgent and indispensable for the preservation of the things which are under administration; (8) To lease any real property to another person for more than one year; (9) To bind the principal to render some service without compensation; (10) To bind the principal in a contract of partnership; (11) To obligate the principal as a guarantor or surety; (12) To create or convey real rights over immovable property; (13) To accept or repudiate an inheritance; (14) To ratify or recognize obligations contracted before the agency; (15) Any other act of strict dominion. (n)
Intellegal Wiki · In plain terms
Some acts are so significant that an agent needs a special power of attorney, not just general authority, to do them for the principal. These include selling, mortgaging, or creating real rights over immovable property, making gifts, lending or borrowing money, accepting or rejecting an inheritance, entering a partnership, acting as guarantor or surety, compromising or arbitrating claims, and any other act of strict ownership.
An editorially maintained plain-language explanation of this provision — not legal advice.
Intellegal Wiki · How the courts apply it
In Sally Yoshizaki v. Joy Training Center of Aurora, the Supreme Court held: Affirmed the sale unenforceable, holding no valid agency to sell the realty existed since the certification was only a general power of attorney under Article 1877 while a special power under Article 1878 was required.
One leading Supreme Court case applying this provision.
Cases applying this article
- Spouses Benito Baysa v. Spouses Fidel Plantilla G.R. No. 159271
- Alejandria Pineda v. Court of Appeals G.R. No. 127094
- Florentina Bautista-Spille Represented By Her Attorney-In-Fact v. Nicorp Management G.R. No. 214057
- Sally Yoshizaki v. Joy Training Center of Aurora G.R. No. 174978
- Reman Recio v. Heirs of the Spouses Aguedo G.R. No. 182349
- Antonio K. Litonjua v. Mary Ann Grace Fernandez G.R. No. 148116
- Dominion Insurance Corporation v. Court of Appeals G.R. No. 129919
- Cosmic Lumber Corporation v. Court of Appeals G.R. No. 114311
Other Supreme Court decisions also apply this article.