The following contracts are voidable or annullable, even though there may have been no damage to the contracting parties:
(1) Those where one of the parties is incapable of giving consent to a contract;
(2) Those where the consent is vitiated by mistake, violence, intimidation, undue influence or fraud.
These contracts are binding, unless they are annulled by a proper authority action in court. They are susceptible of ratification. (n)
Ang kasunduan ay walang bisa kung ang mga ito ay:
1) walang kapahintulutan ang batas sa kanila;
2) ito ay isang pagkakamali, kaguluhan, at pinilit ang isang partido.
Ang kasundun may bisa kung hindi tumutugon sa mga nabanggit.
Discussion:
Voidable contracts are governed by Arts. 1390 to 1402. Consent is one of the three essential elements of contracts. If the consent of one of the parties is defective or vitiated, the contract is voidable. Defect or vitiation of consent is caused by either internal or external factors.
Consent, as an element of contracts, must be intelligent and free. If either attribute is impeded or impaired, then consent is said to be vitiated, and the contract voidable.
The factors that impair intelligence are:
1) minority (Art. 1327, par.) The age of emancipation, previously 21 under both the Civil Code and the Family Code, has been reduced by RA 6089 to 18;
2) insanity, deaf-mutism coupled with illiteracy, intoxication, and hypnotic spell (Arts. 1327, par. 2 and 1328)
The mistake must be caused by facts of which the party demanding annulment did not know. As held in Alcasid v. CA (237 SCRA 419 [1994]): insanity, deaf-mutism coupled with illiteracy, intoxication, and hypnotic spell (Arts. 1327, par. 2 and 1328) .
To vitiate consent, the mistake or error must relate to:
1. the substance of the thing;
2. the principal conditions of the contract;
3. the identity or qualifications of one of the parties when such constituted the principal cause of the contract; or
4. the legal effect of the agreement, if the error is mutual and results in the frustration of the parties’ purpose.
Obligations and Contracts 