Jimenez vs.

Rabat (38 Phil 318)

Facts:
An action was instituted by Jimenez, to recover from the defendant, Pedro
Rabot, a parcel of land situated in the municipality of Alaminos, in the
Province of Pangasinan
From a judgment rendered in favor of the plaintiff, Pedro Rabot has
appealed;... the parcel of land in question, together with two other parcels in
the same locality originally belonged to the plaintiff, having been assigned to
him as one of the heirs in the division of the estate of his father... his property
in Alaminos was confided by him to the care of his elder sister Nicolasa
Jimenez... he wrote this sister a letter from Vigan in which he informed her
that he was... pressed for money and requested her to sell one of his parcels
of land and send him the money in order that he might pay his debts... land to
be sold other... contains no description of the land to be sold other than is
indicated in the words "one of my parcels of land" ("uno de mis... terrenos").
Nicolasa approached the defendant Pedro Rabot, and the latter agreed to buy
the parcel in question... one year later Gregorio came down to Alaminos and
demanded that his sister should surrender this piece of land to him, it being
then in her possession. She refused upon some pretext or other to do so; and
as a result Gregorio, in conjunction with others of his brothers,... and sisters,
whose properties were also in the hands of Nicolasa, instituted an action in
the Court of First Instance for the purpose of recovering their land from her
control.
Nicolasa Jimenez executed and delivered to Pedro Rabot a deed purporting
to convey to him the parcel of land which is the subject of this controversy
Rabot went into possession, and the property was found in his hands at the
time when final judgment was entered in favor of the plaintiffs in the action
above mentioned
Rabot acquired possession under the deed from
Nicolasa during the pendency of the litigation in which she was defendant; but
it does not positively appear that he was at the time cognizant of that
circumstance.
Issues:
WON the authority conferred on Nicolasa by the letter of February 7, 1911,
was sufficient to' enable her to bind her brother?
Ruling:
A power of attorney to convey real property ought to appear in a public
document, just as any other instrument intended to transmit or convey an
interest in such property ought to appear in a public document.
a private document is competent to create, transmit, modify, or extinguish a
right in real property... it follows that a power of attorney to convey such
property, even though in the form of a private document, will operate with
effect.
Again, supposing that the letter contained... adequate authority for Nicolasa to
sell the property in question, her action in conveying the property in her own
name, without showing the capacity in which she acted, was doubtless
irregular. Nevertheless, such deed would in any event operate to bind her
brother, the... plaintiff, in its character as a contract... supposing that the
authority was sufficient, he could be compelled by a proper judicial proceeding
to execute a document to carry such contract into effect... the authority
expressed in the letter is a sufficient compliance with both requirements.
It has been urged here that in order for the authority to be sufficient under
section 335 of the Code of Civil Procedure the authorization must contain a
particular description of the property which the agent is to be permitted to sell.
There is no such requirement in... subsection 5 of section 335; and we do not
believe that it would be legitimate to read such a requirement into it.
the description must be sufficiently definite to identify the land either from the
recitals of the contract or deed or from external facts referred to in the
document, thereby enabling one to determine the identity of the lana and if...
the description is uncertain on its face or is shown to be applicable with equal
plausibility to more than one tract, it is insufficient... principle embodied in
these decisions is not, in our opinion, applicable to the present case, which
relates to the sufficiency of the... authorization, not to the sufficiency of the
contract or conveyance.
It is unquestionable that the deed which Nicolasa executed contains a proper
description of the property which she purported to convey.
a person may by a general power of attorney authorize an agent to sell "all"
the land possessed by the principal, or all that he possesses in a particular
city, county, or state
In the present case the agent was given the power to sell either of the parcels
of land belonging to the plaintiff. We can see no reason why the performance
of an act within the scope of this authority should not bind the plaintiff to the
same extent as if he had given the... agent authority to sell "any or all" and
she had conveyed only one.
lower court should have absolved the defendant Pedro Rabot
Principles:
Article 1713 of the Civil Code requires that the authority to alienate land shall
be contained in an express mandate; while subsection 5 of section 335 of the
Code of Civil Procedure... says that the authority of the agent must be in
writing and subscribed by the party to be charged.
purpose in giving a power of attorney is to substitute the mind and hand of the
agent for the mind and hand of the principal; and if the character and extent
of... the power is so far defined as to leave no doubt as to the limits within
which the agent is authorized to act, and he acts within those limits, the
principal cannot question the validity of his act