Pabón v. Registrar of Property of Mayagüez
Pabón v. Registrar of Property of Mayagüez
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
On December 22, 1948, by authorization of the former District Court of Mayagüez, Matilde Pabón Malavé, assisted by Atilano Fernández, her present husband, executed a mortgage in favor of Carlos Pablo and Ibet Emilia Mántaras Pabón, the minor children of Matilde Pabón and her former husband, on two urban properties, one of which was the private property of Matilde Pabón and the other of the conjugal partnership constituted by her and her present husband, Atilano Fernández. On July 26, 1951, by deed No. 106, Ma-tilde Pabón Malavé emancipated the minors Carlos Pablo and Ibet Emilia Mántaras Pabón before Notary José Sabater. By deed No. 46, executed on March 17, 1952 before Notary José Sabater, Ibet Emilia Mántaras Pabón, in her own right and in her capacity as attorney-in-fact of her brother, Carlos Mántaras Pabón, cancelled the aforesaid mortgage. Her mother, Matilde Pabón Malavé, appeared in the deed of cancellation for the purpose of conferring power on her emancipated minor daughter to cancel the mortgage which had been executed by the said Matilde Pabón Malavé.
Upon presentation of the deed of cancellation of mortgage in the Registry of Property of Mayagüez, recordation was denied on the ground that the mother of the emancipated minors who appeared for the purpose of authorizing her. daughter to effect the cancellation, was the debtor in the mortgage sought to be cancelled. Aggrieved by the refusal of the Registrar of Property of Mayagüez, José M. Ramírez de Arellano, Matilde Pabón Malavé appeals to this Court by way of this administrative proceeding and requests us to set aside the Registrar’s note refusing to record the document.
Under § 237 of the Civil Code of Puerto Rico, a minor who has been emancipated by the father or the mother
We meet here with one of those odd forms known in civil law as self-contract, namely, a contract whereby a person may contract with himself without the meeting of the minds presupposed by the contract. Needless to say such an anomaly should not be treated favorably within the general theory of obligations.
The prohibition of our Civil Code to the effect that an emancipated minor may not himself execute an act of dominion and alienation of real property, is a protective measure to remedy the presumptive lack of capacity of the emancipated minor. Emancipation by the parents is “a juridical condition of truly limited capacity, an intermediate condition, in which the minor has the exercise of his civil rights not to the fullest extent but one to a certain degree.
We have found nothing in our case law which would call for a re-examination to conform to the spirit of modern times. On the contrary, we believe that the rule established by this Court that in case of any conflict between the interests of the emancipated minor and those of his parents a tutor or guardian ad litem should be appointed, should be sustained not only for the benefit of the moral soundness of the paterno filial institution but also to safeguard the principle bearing on the meeting of the minds in matters of contract. It is .unquestionable that an emancipated minor, who is to a certain extent subject to the paternal or maternal authority, would never have the same freedom to contract with his parents that he would with private persons.
The registrar’s note is affirmed. .
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.