BOOK II

PROPERTY, OWNERSHIP AND ITS

MODIFICATIONS
Property an economic concept; a mass of things or
objects useful to human activity and which are
necessary to life, for which reason they may in one
way or another be organized and distributed, but
always for the use of man; that which may be
appropriated.
Property as a subject in Law classifies and defines
the different kinds of appropriable objects, provides
for their acquisition and loss, and in general treats of
the nature and consequences of real rights.
Right to Property the juridical tie by virtue of
which a person has the exclusive power to receive or
obtain all the benefits from a thing, except those
prohibited or restricted by law or by the rights of
others.
Right to Property
Emphasizes the vinculum
between man and things

Ownership
Refers to the mass of rights
over the things

Title I
CLASSIFICATION OF PROPERTY
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
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. (333)
Things
-

Includes
both
appropriable and
non-appropriable
COSASall
objects that exist
and can be of use
to man.
Those that can be
possessed.

Property
BIENES all those that are
already appropriated or are
in the possession of man.
Those that are
already possessed
and are found in
mans patrimony

Classification of Things
Res Nullius things which have been intentionally
abandoned (res derelictae) by their owners which are
still considered as things, even if for the moment they

have no owners because they can still be the object of

appropriation; belonging to no one ; they have not
been appropriated
e.g fish still swimming in the ocean, wild animals,
pebbles in the shore.
Res Communes- belonging to everyone; for the use
and enjoyment of all mankind.
e.g air we breathe, wind & sunlight
Res Alijucus objects (tangible or intangible) which
are owned privately (collective or individual capacity
e.g book, shares of stock, parcel of land
Requisites to be considered as property
1. Utility or the capacity to satisfy human wants
2. Individuality and Substance (it can exist by itself)
3. Susceptibility of being appropriated
Common things not susceptible of appropriation as
a whole mass, but the limited quantity of the whole
mass may be appropriated and thereby converted into
property.
Note:
Human body is not a thing. Upon death, the corpse
becomes a thing, although it is not susceptible of
appropriation and commerce by reason of public
morality.
Contracts by relatives with respect to the corpse of
a deceased person, which do not refer to the funeral,
autopsy or related matters, are void as contrary to
morals.
Appropriation occupation; willful apprehension of
a corporeal object which has no owner, with intent to
acquire its ownership.
Things include patrimonial rights.
Kinds of rights
1) Real Rights
jus in re; power belonging to a person over a
specific thing, without a passive subject individually
determined against whom such right may be
personally exercised.

DISTINCTIONS
# of persons
involved

- gives to a person a direct and immediate juridical

power over a thing which is enforceable against the
whole world.
Characteristics
(1) a subject and an object connected by a
relation of ownership of the former over the
latter
(2) a general obligation or duty to respect
such relation, there being no particular
passive subject
(3) effective actions recognized by law to
protect such relation against anyone who
may want to disturb it.
2) Personal Rights
- jus ad rem; power belonging to one person to
demand of another, as a definite passive subject, the
fulfillment of prestation to give, to do or not to do.
- right of obligation or obligation
Characteristics
(1) there are 2 subjects (active and passive),
who are determined and specified.
(2) general obligation on the part of 3rd
persons to respect the relation between the
active and passive subject
(3) effective actions in favor of the active
subject against the passive subject for the
performance of the prestation by the latter
or so that the relation between them may
produce its natural and juridical effects.

REAL RIGHTS
One definite active
subject and the rest
of the world as
passive
subjects
without
determination
Corporeal
or
tangible thing

PERSONAL RIGHTS
Definite
active
subject and definite
passive subject

How the will of

the active subject
affects the thing

Directly affects the

thing

the
the
the

Cause
of
creating
the
juridical relation
Methods
of
extinguishment
of the juridical
relation
Nature of the
things
arising
from them

By mode and title

Object of the
juridical relation

Intangible thing,
prestation of
debtor
Indirectly affects
thing through
prestation of
debtor
By title alone

the
the

Loss or destruction
of the thing

Loss or destruction of
the thing does not
extinguish the relation

Gives rise to real

actions against 3rd
persons

Produce
personal
actions against the
definite debtor

Classification of Things
A. Divine regulated by canonical laws
I. Spiritual
II. Corporeal or Ecclesiastical
Sacred, religious, holy, temporal
B. Human governed by laws promulgated by man
I. Material, Corporeal or Physical or those
manifest to the senses
a. by reason of ownership
1. Common
2. Public
3. Corporate
4. Nullius
5. Private
b. by reason of their immobility
1. Immovables or real
2. Movables
3. Semi-movables
c. by reason of number
1. Universal
2. Generic
3. Specific
d. by reason of their existence
1. existing or present
2. Future

e. by reason of their divisibility

1. Divisible
2. Indivisible
f. by reason of their importance
1. Principal
2. Accessory
g. by reason of homogeneity of the
specie
1. Fungibles
2.Non fungibles
h. by reason of their consumability
1. Consumables
2. Non-consumables
i. by reason of their alienability
1. Within the commerce of man
2. Outside the commerce of man
II. Intangible, incorporeal or Juridical
The predominant distinction of property into
real and personal is the possibility of transfer of
the latter or of its movement in space, whether
by itself or by some external acts.
The classification of property assumes its
importance from the different provisions of the
law that governs its acquisition, possession,
disposition, loss and registration of immovable
and movables.
Art. 414 did not mention the mixed or the
semi-immovables
CHAPTER 1
IMMOVABLE PROPERTY
Art. 415. The following are immovable property:
(1) Land, buildings, roads and constructions of all
kinds adhered to the soil;
(2) Trees, plants and growing fruits, while they are
attached to the land or form an integral part of an
immovable.
(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;
(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;
(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;
(7)Fertilizer actually used on a piece of land
(8) Mines, quarries and slag dumps, while the
matter thereof forms part of the bed, and waters
either running or stagnant;
(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 for public works and servitudes and
other real rights over immovable property (334a)
The law does not define what properties are
immovable, they are merely enumerated.
Classes of immovables:
by Nature cannot be moved from place to
place (par 1 & 8 of Art. 415, lands, mines &
slag dumps)
by Incorporation essentially movable, but are
attached to an immovable in such a manner as
to be an integral part thereof ( pars. 2,3,4 & 6
of Art. 415)
by Destination essentially movables but by
the purpose for which they have been placed in
an immovable, partake of the nature of the latter
because of the added utility derived therefrom
(pars. 4,5,6,7 & 9 of Art. 415)
by Analogy or by law mention in par. 10 of
Art. 415

Paragraph No. 1 covers property which are

immovable by nature (Land, buildings, roads
and construction of all kinds adhered to the soil)
*Buildings are always immovable under the
Code.
Separate treatment by the parties of a
building from the land on which it stands, does
not change the immovable character of the
building, which by itself can be the subject of
real estate mortgage.
Cases:
Punzalan vs Lacsamana (121 SCRA 331)
Leung Yee vs Strong Machinery Co., (37 PHIL
644)
Standard Oil Company vs Jaranillo (44 PHIL
631)
Prudential Bank vs Panis (153 SCRA 390)
Santos Evangelista vs Alto Surety (103 PHIL
401)
Tumalad vs Vicencio
Buildings (on rented land) being immovable
by nature, the ownership of the land on which
they were erected cannot change their nature as
immovable property.
Constructions in buildings become
immovable by incorporation. They are being
attached to the land permanently annex the
same.
The parties to a contract may, by agreement,
treat as personal property that which by nature
real property. It is a familiar phenomenon to see
things classed as real property for purposes of
taxation, which on general purpose may be
considered ad personal property. (Standard Oil
vs Jaranillo supra)
In such a case as a building is made the subject
of a chattel mortgage, and the mortgage is
registered in the chattel mortgage registry, the
mortgage would still be void in so far as 3 rd
persons are concerned. (Evangelista vs Alto
Surety & Ins. Co.)