LUNOD VS.

MENESES  Where a statutory easement exists between adjoining estates, the

Topic: Ownership
RECIT-READY: Plaintiff Lunod and 7 others are owners of farmlands near
a lake while defendant Meneses is the owner of a fishpond and a strip of
land in Paraan adjoining said lake on one side of a river on the other.
Meneses converted land in paraan to a fishpond causing flood and
damage in other plantatios. Lunod filed filed a complaint seeking to
remove obstruction impeding the passage of water. The court held that
Meneses cannot be permitted to obstruct the flow of waters through his
land, but lunod et al cannot prevent defendant from preventing his lands
against influx of waters.
FACTS: (all caps, bold)
 Plaintiifs (Appellees) Nicolas Lunod and 7 others are owners of
farmlands on the upper estates near a lake (Calalaran).
 Defendant-Appellant Higno Meneses is the owner of a fishpond
and a strip of land in Paraanan adjoining said lake on one side and
a river on the other. Paraan is the only outlet of water to the river
from the lands of Lunod et al during rainy season.
 In 1901 Meneses converted the land in Paraan to a fishpond and by
means of a dam and a bamboo net prevented the free passage of
water through Paraan causing flood and damage of plantations in
the upper estates.
 Lunod et al filed a complaint alleging that there exists in favor of
their rice fields a statutory easement for more than 20 years before
1901 and praying that Meneses be ordered to remove the
obstructions that impede the passage of water through Paraanan.
 TC ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.
owner of the lower lands must not construct any work that may
impair or obstruct an easement which consists in receiving the
waters which naturally, and without the intervention of man,
descend from more elevated lands; neither shall the owner of the
latter construct any work that may increase the easement.
 The Civil Code allows that every owner may enclose his property
by means of walls, dikes, fences, or any other device, but his right
is limited by the easement with which his estate is charged.
 Since the plaintiffs can not prevent the defendant from protecting
his lands against the influx of salt water; but the defendant could
never be permitted to obstruct the flow of the waters through his
lands to the river during the heavy rains, when the high lands in
Calalaran and the lake in said place are flooded, thereby impairing
the right of the owners of the dominant estates; the court advised
that it is perhaps useful and advantageous to all parties that
Meneses be made to build a another dike in addition to the old dike
between the lake of said place and the low lands in Paraanan, for
the purpose of preventing the salt waters of the river flooding (at
high tide) not only the lowlands in Paraanan but also the higher
ones of Calalaran and its lake.

ISSUE: Whether Meneses can be permitted to obstruct the flow of

waters through his lands?

HELD NO. But Lunod et al cannot prevent the defendant from building
works to prevent his lands against influx of waters.