Law School Noob: [CASE DIGEST] Baksh v. CA (G.R. No. 97336)

Sunday, September 26, 2021

[CASE DIGEST] Baksh v. CA (G.R. No. 97336)

February 19, 1993

FACTS:

Gashem Shookat Baksh, an Iranian exchange student taking a medical course at the Lyceum Northwestern Colleges in Dagupan, courted and proposed marriage to Marilou T. Gonzales, a 22-year old single Filipino and a pretty lass of good moral character and reputation duly respected in her community. Marilou accepted the marriage proposal.

Subsequently, Gashem forced her to live with him. Marilou, who was a virgin before she began living with Gashe, became pregnant. She was later provided some medicine for abortion by Gashem.

Marilou was subjected to threats and maltreatment by Gashem, who later on repudiated their marriage agreement, saying that he is already married to someone living in Bacolod City.

Marilou sought damages against Gashem for the alleged violation of their agreement to get married. The trial Court ruled in her favor and awarded her moral damages in the sum of P20,0000, attorney's fees in the sum of P3,000, and litigation expenses in the sum of P2,000.

In his appeal, Gashem argued that Article 21 of the Civil Code does not apply in this case because of the following: (1) he claims to have not committed any moral wrong or injury or violated any good custom or public policy; (2) he has not professed love or proposed marriage to Marilou; (3) he never maltreated her; (4) the trial court liberally invoked Filipino customs, traditions and culture, to his prejudice; (5) his actions were tolerable under his Muslim upbringing; and (6) the mere breach of promise to marry is not actionable.

ISSUE:

Whether Marilou may recover damages from Gashem on the basis of Article 21. -- YES.

HELD:

Consent to sexual intercourse obtained through a promise to marry (by a subtle scheme or deceptive device, when he actually had no intention to marry) may justify an award of damages pursuant to Article 21 not because of such promise to marry but because of the fraud and deceit behind it and the willful injury to her honor and reputation which followed thereafter.

Article 21 is designed to expand the concept of torts or quasidelict in this jurisdiction by granting adequate legal remedy for the untold number of moral wrongs which is impossible for human foresight to specifically enumerate and punish in the statute books.

It is essential, however, that such injury should have been committed in a manner contrary to morals, good customs or public policy.

In the instant case it was Gashem's fraudulent and deceptive protestations of love for and promise to marry Marilou that made her surrender her virtue and womanhood to him and to live with him on the honest and sincere belief that he would keep said promise, and it was also what made Marilou's parents agree to their daughter's livingin with him preparatory to their supposed marriage.

LAW SCHOOL LIFE

The real score on law school and alcohol

Law school is so demanding an endeavor, no decent law student would want to deliberately skip clat asses for a tall glass of beer, no matter how deliciously ice cold such beverage is. It just isn't done. At all [. . .]

Should law students take a leave of absence until the COVID-19 pandemic ends?

For many, the abrupt shift to digital learning due to the pandemic is a novel concept that is particularly difficult to adjust to. This is more pronounced among law students, where daily physical interactions with classmates and professors are necessary in fostering a robust academic experience [. . .]

So you took the Bar Exams and failed. Now what?

Failing the Bar constitutes an abysmal point in any law graduate's life. It can trigger a lot of negative things, which is why it is very important that Bar examinees should have a support system to cling on to in the event of failure [. . .]

Bar review season pitfalls and tips to make reviewing for the Bar Exams less stressful

The Bar Exam review season is when reviewees try to conjur everything they have learned in law school and condense everything into neat mental folders easily retrievable when needed. Doing so requires focus, concentration, determination, and wise use of resources, particularly time and money [. . .]

The lowdown on law school entrance exams: Top 3 law schools in the Philippines

The top three law schools in the Philippines by reputation, quality of their alumni, and passing rate in the Bar exams are the College of Law of the University of the Philippines in Quezon City, the Ateneo School of Law in Makati, and the College of Law of the San Beda University in Manila. Each year these schools manage to attract graduates from all over the Philippines. As such, competition for slots in any of these schools is intense [. . .]

The Filipino law student's guide to scoring law textbooks on the cheap

Law books are often thick and heavy tomes of specialized legal information, mostly annotations of laws or statutes with a discussion of existing jurisprudence. They can be very intimidating. Even worse, they are bound to punch a gaping hole in your wallet [. . .]

To digest or not to digest -- that's the question

Relying on digests spares one the trouble of having to go through the case itself, identifying relevant facts, determining key issues, and analyzing the court's rationale in coming up with its decision [. . .]