Function of legal periods
Legal periods give a uniform method for measuring time when a law, rule, judgment, administrative issuance, or juridical act fixes when a right begins, when an obligation becomes demandable, when an act may still be done, or when a consequence attaches.
The governing text is always read first. If a special law, rule, contract, judgment, or order defines its own period, that definition controls within its field. If the text merely uses ordinary legal units such as years, months, days, or nights, the general statutory rules on legal periods supply the meaning.
Article 13 of the Civil Code gives the basic rule on the meaning and computation of periods. Section 31, Chapter VIII, Book I of the Revised Administrative Code of 1987 updated the general definition of a year and restated the statutory meanings of month, day, and night. The provisions are harmonized by using the later Administrative Code definition of a year while retaining Article 13's rule that, in computing a period, the first day is excluded and the last day is included.
Units of time
Year
A year is understood as twelve calendar months under the Revised Administrative Code. This matters because a legal period stated in years is not reduced to a fixed count of 365 days when the period crosses a leap year.
Thus, a period of one year from a given date ordinarily reaches the corresponding calendar date in the following year, unless the governing text fixes a different beginning, ending, or method of computation. The leap day is part of the calendar when it falls within the period; it is not ignored, and the year is not shortened by treating all years as having only 365 days.
The older Civil Code wording that referred to years of 365 days must be read in light of the later Administrative Code rule. For present computation, the safer and controlling general rule is that years are calendar-year units composed of twelve calendar months.
Month
A month is generally thirty days. This is the default rule when the law or juridical act uses the word "month" without identifying a specific calendar month or otherwise showing that an actual calendar month is intended.
If the period refers to a specific calendar month, the period is computed according to the actual number of days in that month. January has 31 days; April has 30 days; February has 28 days in an ordinary year and 29 days in a leap year.
The distinction is between a generic month as a legal unit and a named or specific calendar month as a segment of the calendar. "One month" ordinarily means thirty days. "The month of February 2028" means the actual February of that leap year. "Rent payable every 15th day of the month" is not a thirty-day period but a recurrence fixed by calendar dates.
Day
A day is a period of twenty-four hours. When a legal period is stated in days, the day of the triggering event is excluded and the last day of the period is included, unless the applicable text provides otherwise.
Calendar days include Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays because they are days on the calendar. Working days or business days exclude nonworking days by the express meaning of the phrase or by the governing rule that uses it.
A period expressed in hours is usually counted by exact time, not by calendar days. A command to act within twenty-four hours is different from a command to act within one day if the applicable law or rule treats the hour-based period as exact.
Night
Night is the interval from sunset to sunrise. This definition is used only when a law makes the time of night legally material, such as when the character, validity, or consequence of an act depends on whether it occurred at night.
The statutory definition avoids treating night as a fixed twelve-hour period. Its beginning and end depend on actual sunset and sunrise, not on an arbitrary clock range.
Basic computation rule
In computing a legal period, the first day is excluded and the last day is included. The first day is the day from which the period is made to run, usually the day of receipt, notice, publication, accrual, approval, execution, or occurrence of the triggering event.
Excluding the first day means that the triggering day is not counted as day one. Including the last day means that the act may still be validly done at any time within the last day, subject to office hours, filing systems, or special rules that govern the particular act.
For a ten-day period from receipt on March 1, March 1 is excluded, March 2 is day one, and March 11 is day ten. For a thirty-day period from January 10, January 10 is excluded, January 11 is day one, and February 9 is day thirty.
The rule applies only after identifying the correct unit of time. A period of days is counted day by day. A generic month is counted as thirty days. A year is counted as twelve calendar months. A specific named month is counted by its actual calendar length.
Common formulations and their effect
| Wording | Effect on computation |
|---|---|
| Within ten days from receipt | The date of receipt is excluded; the act may be done through the tenth counted day. |
| Ten days after notice | The date of notice is excluded; the period starts on the next calendar day unless a special rule says otherwise. |
| Not later than June 30 | The act must be done on or before June 30 because the stated date is the final permissible date. |
| Until June 30 | June 30 is ordinarily included because the last day of a period is included. |
| Before June 30 | The act must be done earlier than June 30 because the wording excludes the stated date. |
| For the month of April | The period covers the actual calendar month of April, which has 30 days. |
| For one month | The period is generally thirty days unless the context shows a calendar month was intended. |
| For one year | The period is generally twelve calendar months, not merely 365 days. |
Calendar days, working days, and holidays
When the period is stated in calendar days, every day is counted, including Saturdays, Sundays, special nonworking days, and regular holidays. The law's use of calendar days signals continuous counting.
When the period is stated in working days, only days on which the relevant office or business is legally open for the contemplated act are counted. The phrase "working days" changes the counting unit; it does not merely extend the deadline after calendar-day counting.
Article 13 itself does not create a universal rule that a deadline falling on a holiday automatically moves to the next working day. Such extension must come from the applicable procedural rule, administrative rule, special statute, office regulation, contract, or the nature of the act to be performed.
For court filings, administrative filings, tax filings, corporate submissions, and similar regulated acts, the governing rule often provides what happens when the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, legal holiday, suspension of work, or system unavailability. That special rule controls because it is part of the law governing the act.
Specific calendar months and leap years
When a specific calendar month is designated, the actual calendar controls. February must be counted as February actually exists in the relevant year, so it has 29 days in a leap year and 28 days in a common year.
Leap years mainly affect periods stated in days and periods involving specific calendar months. They do not convert a year into 366 days for all purposes, because the general legal meaning of a year is twelve calendar months.
If a period stated in days crosses February 29, that day is counted like any other calendar day. If the period is stated in years, the period is measured by calendar years rather than by multiplying 365 days by the number of years.
Periods fixed by law and periods fixed by agreement
Periods fixed by law must be computed according to the statutory method unless the law itself provides a special computation. Private parties cannot defeat a mandatory legal period by agreeing on a computation that shortens public rights, evades a statutory duty, or impairs a legal remedy.
Periods fixed by contract are primarily governed by the parties' stipulation, provided it is lawful, clear, and not contrary to public policy. If the contract uses legal time units without defining them, the general statutory meanings of year, month, day, and night fill the gap.
When a contract fixes a due date, the date itself governs. When it fixes a period from an event, the event day is excluded and the last day is included, unless the contract clearly adopts another method.
Periods, terms, and accrual
A period is the interval of time allowed or required by law or agreement. A term is often used to refer to the end point of that interval, although legal usage may use the words interchangeably depending on context.
Accrual identifies when a right of action, duty, or legal consequence begins. Computation identifies how long the law gives after accrual or after another triggering event. The date of accrual is generally excluded when the period is expressed as running from that date.
For prescriptive periods, reglementary periods, effectivity periods, redemption periods, notice periods, and periods for compliance, the decisive questions are the same: what event starts the period, what unit of time is used, whether a special rule changes the counting, and what date is the last included day.
Effect of the last day
Because the last day is included, a right may be exercised or an obligation may be performed on that day if no special rule requires earlier action. Filing, payment, notice, exercise of an option, redemption, or compliance within the last day is timely when the applicable law allows performance during that day.
The practical limit of the last day depends on the act required. If the act must be filed in an office, the last day is affected by the office's receiving hours and applicable filing rules. If the act may be done electronically, the governing electronic filing rule determines whether the full calendar day is available.
After the last included day passes, the legal consequence attached to expiration occurs. The consequence may be loss of a remedy, perfection of a right, demandability of an obligation, finality of an act, accrual of penalties, or the start of another period.
Reading legal periods in context
The statutory definitions are default rules, not a substitute for reading the whole provision. Words such as "from," "after," "before," "until," "not later than," "at least," "calendar days," "working days," "business days," "calendar month," and named months may change how the period begins or ends.
When the legal text contains both a number and a calendar date, the calendar date usually gives the controlling endpoint if the two cannot be reconciled. When the text gives only a number of days, months, or years from an event, the general computation rules determine the endpoint.
When two possible computations exist, the better reading is the one that gives effect to the specific wording of the law, harmonizes the Civil Code and the Revised Administrative Code, and avoids rendering any time expression useless.
Condensed rules
- Use the special computation rule in the governing law, rule, order, or contract before applying the general rules.
- A year is twelve calendar months under the Revised Administrative Code.
- A generic month is thirty days, but a specific calendar month is counted by its actual number of days.
- A day is twenty-four hours, and a night runs from sunset to sunrise.
- The triggering day is excluded, and the last day is included.
- Calendar days are counted continuously, including weekends and holidays.
- Working days are counted by excluding nonworking days under the applicable rule or context.
- Leap day is counted when the period is measured in days and the period crosses February 29.
- A legal year is not automatically converted into 365 days for current computation.
- Expiration of the last included day produces the legal consequence attached by the governing law or juridical act.