PROP

WEEK 1

Art. 414. All things which are or may be the object of appropriation are considered either
1. Immovable or real property; or
2. Movable or personal property

Concept of things and property

Thing
Any object that exists and is capable of satisfying some human needs
Includes both object that are already possessed or owned & those that are susceptible of appropriation

Property
Any thing which is already the object of appropriation or is found in the possession of man

Requisites of Property
Property under civil law comprehends every species of title, inchoate or complete, legal or equitable
1. Utility
a. Capacity to satisfy some human wants (food, shelter, clothing, knowledge)
b. Generally economic endows property with value susceptible of pecuniary estimation
2. Substantivity or individuality
a. The quality of having existence apart from any other thing
b. Become property only when separated fro the body of the person to whom they belong
3. Appropriability
a. Susceptibility of being possessed by men
b. Common things are not capable of appropriation in their entirety
i. May be appropriated under certain conditions in a limited way and thereby become
property in law
c. A thing may have no owner because it has not yet been appropriated
d. Things cannot be considered as property when they are not susceptible of appropriation because of
physical impossibility

Rights as property
Sometimes used to denote the thing with respect to which legal relations between persons exist the res
over which rights may be exercised and sometimes to the rights with respect to the thing

Real rights
Right or interest belonging to a person over a specific thing without a definite passive subject against
whom such right may be personally enforced
Sometimes called jus in re
o Cases: ownership or dominion, surface right, possession, usufruct, easement or servitude
o Subject matter: may be personal property, as in pledge and chattel mortgage; real property as in
easement, lease record, real mortgage and antichresis or either personal or real property
o Kind as property: If the res of a real right is real property, the right itself is real property
Otherwise, it is personal property

Classification of real rights upon dominion
1. Dominion pleno (the powers to enjoy and to dispose are united)
a. Dominion
b. (Civil) Possession; and
c. Hereditary right
2. Domino menos pleno (The powers to enjoy and to dispose are separated)
a. Surface right; and
b. Usufract
3. Domino limitado (though united, limited)

a. By a charge, such as easement, tax, etc.

b. By a guaranty, such as mortgage, pledge, etc.
c. By a privilege, such as pre-emption, redemption, lease record, etc.

Personal rights
Right or power of a person to demand from another as a definite passive subject, the fulfillment of the
latters obligation
Elements
o Active subject or the person in whom the right resides
o Passive subject or the person against whom the right is available
o Object or prestation or the conduct which must be observed by the debtor
o Jurdical tie or that which binds the parties to the obligation


Real Right
Personal Right
By number of persons who take part Definite active subject who has a A definite active subject and a
in the legal relation
right against all persons generally as definite passive subject
an indefinite passive subject
By the subject matter
Corporeal thing
Always an incorporeal thing
Manner in which the will of the Generally acts directly
Acts indirectly through the promise
active subject acts
of the obligor
Causes of their creation
Created by mode and title
Merely title
Modes of extinction
Loss or destruction of the thing over Survives the subject matter
which it is exercised
Nature of the actions arising from Directed against the whole world
Binding or enforceable only against
the juridical relation
a particular person

Special rules applicable to one class only
Private international law
o GR: Immovables are governed by the law of the country n which they are located; moveables are
governed by the personal law of the owner
Criminal law
o Usurpation of property can take place only with respect to real property
o Robbery and theft can be committed only against personal property
Procedure
o Actions concerning real property are brought to the RTC; action for forcible entry and unlawful
detainer
o Personal property: brought in the court where the defendant or any of its defendants reside or may
be found; replevin or manual delivery of personal property
Contracts
o Real property can be the subject matter of real mortgage and antichresis
o Personal property: subject matter of simple loan or mutuum, voluntary deposit

Mixed property or semi-movables
1. Movables: rendered immovable by reason of their being immobilized by destination or through
attachment to immovable
2. Immovables but treated as movables: can be transplanted or dismantled and moved to another place
without impairing their substance
3. Animals in animal houses, pigeon houses: classigied as immovable though transferable from place to
place or they can move by themselves

IMMOVABLE PROPERTY

The following are immovable properties:
1. Land, buildings, roads and constructions of all kinds adhered to the soil;
a. Buildings: immovable provided it is more or less of a permanent structure independent of and
regardless of ownership of the land on which it is erected since the law makes no distinction
(GR)
b. A building or house which is sold to be demolished immediately is to be regarded as movable
c. Roads whether public or private are immovable. They are considered integral parts of the land.
2. Trees, plants & growing fruits, while they are attached to the land or form an integral part of an immovable
a. Immovable while they are attached to the land or form an integral part of an immovable
i. On the theory that they derive their existence or sustenance
b. Once trees or plants are cut or uprooted they become movable
3. Everything attached to an immovable in a fixed manner, in such a way that it cannot be separated
therefrom without breaking the material or deterioration of the object
4. Statues, reliefs, paintings or other objects for use or ornamentation, placed in buildings or on lands by the
owner of the immovable in such a manner that it reveals the intention to attach them permanently to the
tenements
a. Objects must be placed by owner
b. Intent to attach permanently is essential
5. Machinery, receptacles, instruments or implements intended by the owner of the tenement for an industry
or works which may be carried on in a building or on a piece of land, and which tend directly to meet the
needs of the said industry or works;
Requisites in order machinery may be considered immovable
a. Machinery must have been placed by the owner or an agent of the same
b. An industry or works must be carried on in the building or land
c. The machinery must tend directly to meet the needs of the industry or works
d. The machinery must be essential and principal to the pursuance of the business of the owner,
not merely incidental
6. Animal houses, pigeon houses, beehives, fish ponds or breeding places of similar nature, in case their
owner has placed them or preserves them with the intention to have them permanently attached to the
land, and forming a permanent part of it; the animals in these places are included
a. Considered real property in case their owner has placed them with the intention to have them
permanently attached to the land and forming a permanent part of it the animals in these
places are included
7. Fertilizer actually used on a piece of land
a. Immovable by nature if they are actually used because it is only then when there can be no
question that they form part of the land
b. Fertilizers kept in a barn are not immovable
8. Mines, quarries, and slag dumps, while the matter thereof forms part of the bed, and waters either running
or stagnant
a. Become movable once severed
b. Water itself is plainly movable
9. Docks and structures which, though floating are intended by their nature and object to remain at a fixed
place on a river, lake, or coast;
10. Contracts of public works, and servitudes and other real rights over immovable property


Different classes of immovable
1. By nature
a. Cannot be moved from place to place
2. By incorporation
a. Attached to an immovable in such a manner as to form an integral part thereof
3. By destination

a. Which are placed in an immovable for the use, ornamentation, exploitation or perfection of such
immovable
4. By analogy
a. Considered immovable by operation of law

MOVABLE PROPERTY

Art. 416. The following things are deemed to be personal property
1. Those movables susceptible of appropriation which are not included in the preceding article;
a. Ships or vessels
2. Real property which by any special provision of law is considered as personalty
a. Growing crops are recognized as personal property by the Chattel Mortgage Law
3. Forces of nature which are brought under control by science; and
a. Electricity, gas, rays, heat, light, oxygen, atomic energy, water power
b. Electricity is capable of appropriation by another than the owner
4. In general, all things which can be transported from place to place without impairment of the real
property to they are fixed
a. Three tests to determine whether a property is movable
i. Whether the property can be transported or carried from place to place
ii. Whether such change of location can be made without injuring the immovable to
which the object may be attached
iii. Whether the object does not fall within any of the 10 cases enumerated in Art 15

Art. 417. The following are also considered as personal property:
1. Obligations and actions which have for their object movables or demandable sums; and
a. Demandable sums- amounts are liquidated or determined; both obligations and actions must be
legally demandable or enforceable
2. Shares of stock of agricultural, commercial and industrial entities, although they may have real estate
a. Entities: includes all juridical persons, even partnerships
b. Stock: participation or interest
c. Other incorporeal personal property: copyrights, patents trademarks, rights to invention

Art. 418. Movable property is either consumable or non-consumable. To the first class belong those movables
which cannot be used in a manner appropriate to their nature without their being consumed; to the second class
belong all others.

Consumable goods cannot be the subject matter of a contract of commodatum unless the purpose of the
contract is not the consumption of the object

A thing is fungible if it can be substituted by another thing of the same kind, quantity and quality.
A non-fungible thing is not replaceable in such equivalents.