This case has been cited 6 times or more.
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2014-04-21 |
BERSAMIN, J. |
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| Laches is the failure or neglect for an unreasonable and unexplained length of time to do that which by exerting due diligence a party could and should have done earlier.[47] A suit that is barred on the ground of laches is also called a stale demand. Laches is based on grounds of public policy that requires, for the peace of society, the discouragement of stale claims and, unlike the statute of limitations, is not a mere question of time but is principally a question of the inequity or unfairness of permitting a right or claim to be enforced or asserted.[48] Tempus enim modus tollendi obligationes et actiones, quia tempus currit contra desides et sui juris contemptores (For time is a means of dissipating obligations and actions, because time runs against the slothful and careless of their own rights).[49] Truly, the law serves those who are vigilant and diligent, not those who sleep when the law requires them to act.[50] | |||||
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2014-01-20 |
BERSAMIN, J. |
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| Laches is the failure or neglect for an unreasonable and unexplained length of time to do that which by exercising due diligence could nor should have been done earlier; it is negligence or omission to assert a right within a reasonable time, warranting a presumption that the party entitled to assert it either has abandoned it or declined to assert it.[41] Its other name is stale demands, and it is based upon grounds of public policy that requires, for the peace of society, the discouragement of stale claims and, unlike the statute of limitations, is not a mere question of time but is principally a question of the inequity or unfairness of permitting a right or claim to be enforced or asserted.[42] The existence of four elements must be shown in order to validate laches as a defense, to wit: (a) conduct on the part of the defendant, or of one under whom a claim is made, giving rise to a situation for which a complaint is filed and a remedy sought; (b) delay in asserting the rights of the complainant, who has knowledge or notice of the defendant's conduct and has been afforded an opportunity to institute a suit; (c) lack of knowledge or notice on the part of the defendant that the complainant will assert the right on which the latter has based the suit; and (d) injury or prejudice to the defendant in the event that the complainant is granted a relief or the suit is not deemed barred.[43] | |||||
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2011-11-23 |
BERSAMIN, J. |
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| And, thirdly, Article 1191 of the Civil Code did not prohibit the parties from entering into an agreement whereby a violation of the terms of the contract would result to its cancellation. In Pangilinan v. Court of Appeals,[45] the Court upheld the vendor's right in a contract to sell to extrajudicially cancel the contract upon failure of the vendee to pay the installments and even to retain the sums already paid, holding: [Article 1191 of the Civil Code] makes it available to the injured party alternative remedies such as the power to rescind or enforce fulfillment of the contract, with damages in either case if the obligor does not comply with what is incumbent upon him. There is nothing in this law which prohibits the parties from entering into an agreement that a violation of the terms of the contract would cause its cancellation even without court intervention. The rationale for the foregoing is that in contracts providing for automatic revocation, judicial intervention is necessary not for purposes of obtaining a judicial declaration rescinding a contract already deemed rescinded by virtue of an agreement providing for rescission even without judicial intervention, but in order to determine whether or not the rescission was proper. Where such propriety is sustained, the decision of the court will be merely declaratory of the revocation, but it is not itself the revocatory act. Moreover, the vendor's right in contracts to sell with reserved title to extrajudicially cancel the sale upon failure of the vendee to pay the stipulated installments and retain the sums and installments already received has long been recognized by the well-established doctrine of 39 years standing. The validity of the stipulation in the contract providing for automatic rescission upon non-payment cannot be doubted. It is in the nature of an agreement granting a party the right to rescind a contract unilaterally in case of breach without need of going to court. Thus, rescission under Article 1191 was inevitable due to petitioner's failure to pay the stipulated price within the original period fixed in the agreement. | |||||
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2006-01-27 |
CHICO-NAZARIO, J. |
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| [I]t is well to recall that contracts are respected as the law between the contracting parties, and they may establish such stipulations, clauses, terms and conditions as they may want to include. As long as such agreements are not contrary to law, morals, good customs, public policy or public order they shall have the force of law between them. The foregoing legal truism finds equal potency in the case at bar. No doubt, the pre-termination was properly resorted to by respondents pursuant to Clause 10 of the Contract of Lease. Indeed, the law on obligations and contracts does not prohibit parties from entering into agreement providing that a violation of the terms of the contract would cause its cancellation even without judicial intervention.[27] This is what petitioner and respondents entered into, a lease contract with stipulation that the contract is rescinded upon violation of its substantial provisions, which petitioner, does not deny having violated. | |||||
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2005-10-14 |
AUSTRIA-MARTINEZ, J. |
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| In Pangilinan vs. Court of Appeals,[48] the vendees contended that their failure to pay the balance of the total contract price was because the vendor reneged on its obligation to improve the subdivision and its facilities. In said case, the Court held that the vendees were barred by laches from asking for specific performance eight years from the date of last installment. The Court held that: "(the vendees) instead of being vigilant and diligent in asserting their rights over the subject property had failed to assert their rights when the law requires them to act. Laches or "stale demands" is based upon grounds of public policy which requires, for the peace of society, the discouragement of stale claims and unlike the statute of limitations, is not a mere question of time but is principally a question of the inequity or unfairness of permitting a right or claim to be enforced or asserted. | |||||
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2005-10-14 |
AUSTRIA-MARTINEZ, J. |
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| The legal adage finds application in the case at bar. Tempus enim modus tollendi obligations et actiones, quia tempus currit contra desides et sui juris contemptores-For time is a means of dissipating obligations and actions, because time runs against the slothful and careless of their own rights."[49] | |||||