IMMOVABLE PROPERTY

May a house built on rented land be the object of real property?

o Yes, real estate mortgage
o Chattel mortgage; 2 conditions must be present:
Parties to the contract agree
No innocent third party will be prejudiced
Building by itself may be mortgaged apart from the land on which it has
been built
Construction of all kindsattachment must be more or less permanent
o Fenceproperty by incorporation; as long as there is intent to
permanently annexed
o Scaffoldingspersonal property; lack of adherence to the soil
Trees and plants
o real property by naturespontaneous products of the soil
o property by incorporationplanted thru labor
o personal propertyuprooted/detached from land
except: timber from timberland; forms integral part
trees blown by typhoon
Growing crops on ones own land
o Real property by incorporation
o Chattel mortgage lawpersonal property
o Sale of growing cropssale of personal property
Par 3: injury or breakage or deterioration in case of separation, must be
substantial
Par 4: objects must be placed by the owner of the immovable and not
necessarily the owner of the object ; note the word PERMANENTLY
Par 5: real property by destination or purpose
o essential requisites:
Placing must be made by the owner of the tenement, his
agent or legal representative
Industry/works must be carried on the building or on the
land
Must tend directly to meet the needs of said industry or
works
Must be essential and principal elements in the industry
and not merely incidental
o Effect of separation
Machine still in building; no longer in usereverts in the
condition of a real property
If still needed but separated temporarily
continues to be immovable; real property by
destination or purpose
o When is machinery attached to land or a tenement considered
immovable?
Par 5, Art 415
Exception: when placed on the land/ tenement by a
tenant
Exception to the exception: when the tenant promised to
leave the machinery on the tenement at the end of the
lease, or when he acted only as agent of owner of the
land
MOVABLE PROPERTY
3 test to determine whether property is immovable or movable
o TEST BY ASPORTATIONcapable of being carried from place to
place
o TEST BY DESCRIPTIONchange in location can be made without
injuring the real property to which it may in the meantime be
attached
o TEST BY EXCLUSIONobject is not one of those enumerated or
included in art 415
Test of exclusion is superior to test by description
PROPERTY RELATION TO THE PERSON TO WHOM IT BELONGS
Property classified according to ownership:
o In a public capacity
o in a private capacity
public dominionownership by the State in that the State has control
and administration; ownership by the public in general, in that not even
the State or subdivisions thereof make them the object of commerce as
long as they remain properties for public use
3 kinds of property of public dominion:
o For public usemay be used by anybody
o For public servicemay be used only by duly authorized persons
o For the development of national wealthlike our natural
resources
Characteristics of properties of public dominion
o Outside commerce of man, and cannot be leased, donated, sold
or be object of any contract
o Cannot be acquired through prescription
o Cannot be registered under the land registration law and be
subject of Torrens title; if erroneously added, the land involved
remains property of public dominion
o Cannot be levied upon by execution nor can they be attached
o In general, they can be used by every body
o Either real or incorporeal; law makes no distinction
public landsnational domain under the legislative power of the
congress as has not been subjected to private right or devoted to public
use
o part of government lands which are thrown open to private
appropriation and settlement by homestead and other like
general laws
o mining, forest, agricultural lands
o agricultural lands may be sold to or acquired by private
individual/entities, ownership over mining and forest lands
cannot be transferred, but leases for them may be had
o Classification or reclassification of public lands into alienable or
disposable, mineral or forest lands is now a prerogative of the
executive department of the government and not of the courts (
Comm. Act 141)
patrimonial propertyproperty it (state) owns but which is not devoted
to public use, public service, or the development of the national wealth;
wealth owned by the State in its private capacity
o other examples:
friar lands, the san lazaro estate, properties obtained by
the Government in escheat proceedings (as whn there is
no other legal heir of a decedent) or those inherited by or
donated to the Government, a municipal-owned
waterworks system
o may be acquired by private individuals/corporations thru
prescription
properties of political subdivisions
o alienation
property for public usecannot be alienated
patrimonial propertymay be alienated and may be
acquired thru prescription
o the national government may donate its patrimonial property to
a municipality and the latter may own the same
OWNERSHIP IN GENERAL
ownershipindependent and general right of a person to control a thing
particularly in his possession, enjoyment, disposition and recovery,
subject to no restrictions except those imposed by the state or private
persons, without prejudice to the provisions of law
kinds of ownership:
o full ownership (dominium or jus in re propia)includes all the
rights of an owner
o naked ownership (nuda properietas)right to the use and fruits
has been denied
Naked ownership (NO) + Usufruct (U) = full ownership
(FO)
FO-NO=U
FU-U=NO
o Sole ownershipownership id vested only in one person
o Co-ownershipownership is vested in 2 or more areas
Rights of an Owner (Art 448)
o Right to enjoy
Right to possess, to use, to the fruits
o Right to dispose
Right to consume or destroy or abuse and encumber or
alienate
o Right to recover or vindicate
Right of an Owner under Roman Law
o Jus possidendiright to possess
o Jus utendiright to use (art 429,431)
o Jus fruendiright to fruits (all 3 kinds of fruits; young of animals
Art 441)
o Jus abutendiright to consume and also to transform or abuse
o Jus disponendiright to dispose
o Jus vindicandiright to recover (art 428, 539 [1], 433)
Actions to recover
o Personal propertyreplevin
o Real property:
Forcible entry or unlawful detainer
Accion publiciana
Accion reivindicatora
Replevinan action or provisional remedy where the complainant prays
for the recovery of possession of personal property
o Machinery and equipment used for an industry and indispensable
for carrying on of such industry cannot be subject of replevin
they are real property
Forcible entrysummary action to recover materials or physical
possession of real property when a person originaly in possession was
deprived thereof by force, intimidation, strategy, threat or stealth (FISTS)
o Prescriptive period1 year from dispossession
Strategy or stealth1 year from time of discovery
o Issues involvedmere physical possession not juridical
possession nor ownership
If in the course of the hearing and in the presentation of
evidence it is found that the question of possession
cannot be resolved without first determining the title to
the property, its jurisdiction is lost and the case should be
dismissed
Conclusive with respect to the possession only; no wise
bind the title or affect ownership of the land or building
Unlawful detaineran action that must be brought when possession by a
landlord, vendor, vendee or other person of any land or building is being
unlawfully withheld after the expiration or termination of the right to
hold possession, by virtue of any contract, express or implied
o Prescriptive period1 year from time possession becomes
unlawful
If there is fixed period of the termination of the lease:
from expiration of the lease
Non-payment of the rent/non-fulfillment of the
conditions of the lease: from the date of demand to
vacate
Demand to vacate must be absolute
Several demands: from the LATEST demand;
unless meantime accion publaciana ha been
brought
o Issuepossession de facto (material possession) not possession
de jure nor ownership
FORCIBLE ENTRY UNLAWFUL DETAINER
Possession is unlawful from the
very beginning
Possession was lawful in the
beginning but became unlawful
afterwards
Ownership is not involved; only the right to the material
possession of the premises
Proceedings in personam

Accion publicianaintended for the recovery of better right to possess
and is a plenary action in an ordinary civil proceeding before RTC
o Prescriptive period: 10 years, otherwise, real right is lost
o Issue: possession de jure
o Kinds:
Where the entry was not obtained thru FISTS; failure to
state that deprivation was caused by FISTS would make
the action not one of forcible entry but accion publiciana
1 yr period for bringing forcible entry or unlawful
detainer has already expired
o Res judicata (see p.122)
Accion reinvindicatoriaaction to recover ownership over real property
o Action must be brought to RTC where the real estate is recorded
o Prescriptive period: 10 yearsgood faith and just title; 30 yrs
extraordinary prescription
o Issue: ownership
Writ of injunction
o Presumption: defendant in actual possession disputably have the
better right; hence, person deprived of his possession of property
is ordinarily not allowed to avail himself of the remedy
Rights of ownership not absolute
o Limitations on ownership
Those given by the state or law
Those given by the owner (or grantee) himself
Those given by the person (grantor) who gave the thing
to its present owner
Hidden treasure
o Requisites:
Hidden and unknown deposit
Consist of money, jewelry or other precious objects
Their lawful ownership does not appear
o Rule if finder/owner is married
The share of the hidden treasure which the law awards to
the finder or the proprietor belongs to the conjugal
partnership
o Rights of usufructuaryshall be considered as stranger (does not
get a share)
If he found the treasuregets half as finder
If another person found itperson gets half as finder, the
naked owner gets the other half as owner
o Trespassernot entitled to any share
o Treasure huntsactual finders will not necessarily entitled to
half; will be given what has been stipulated in the contract
o Death of lawful ownerwill not be considered as hidden treasure
and must therefore go to the owners rightful heirs
RIGHT OF ACCESSION
Accessionright of property owner to everything which is:
o Produced thereby (accession discreta)
o Incorporated or attached thereto, either naturally or artificially,
which in turn divided into:
Natural accessions
Artificial accessions
Improvements made on the property are included within the scope of
accessions
Classifications of accessions
o Accession discrete ( to the fruits)
Natural fruits
Industrial fruits
Civil fruits
o Accession continua (attachment of corporation)
With reference to real property
Accession industrial
o Building; Planting; Sowing
Accession natural
o Alluvium; Avulsion; Change of course of
rivers; Formation of inlands
With respect to personal property
Adjunction or conjunction
o Inclusion (engraftment); Soldadura
(attachment) ; Tejido (weaving); Pintura
(painting); Escritura (writing)
Mixture (confusionliquids; commixtion
liquids)
Specification
Is accession mode of acquiring ownership?NO
o Presupposes a previously existing ownership by the owner over
the principal
o A right implicitly included in ownership without which it will have
no basis or existence
In general, the right to accession is automatic (ipso jure) requiring no
prior act on the part of the owner of the principal
RIGHTS OF ACCESSION WITH RESPECT TO WHAT IS PRODUCED BY THE
PROPERTY (accession discreta)
Right to the ownership of fruits produced by our property
Instances when owner of the land does NOT own the fruits:
o Possessor in good faith of the land (he owns the fruits already
received)
o Usufructuary
o Lessee gets the fruits of the land
o Contract of antichresis
Natural fruits; 2 kinds:
o the spontaneous products of the soil ( human labor does NOT
intervene)
o the young and other products of animals
industrial fruitsthose produced by lands of any kind thru
cultivation/labor
to whom does the offspring of animals belong when the male and the
female belong to different owners?
o Partidasthe owner of the female was considered also the
owner of the young, unless there is a contrary custom or
speculation
o The legal presumption, in the absence of proof to the contrary, is
that the calf, as well as its mother belong to the owner of the
latter, by the right of accretion
Civil fruitsconsist of the rent of buildings, price of leases (rentals) of
lands and other property (even if personal), the amount of perpetual or
life annuities or other similar income
Civil fruits vs natural fruits
o Civil fruits are deemed to accrue daily and therefore considered
in the category of personal property
o Natural and industrial fruits while still growing are real property
o Civil fruits can be pro-rated; natural and industrial fruits cannot
RIGHT OF ACCESSION WITH RESPECT TO IMMOVABLE PROPERTY
Art 445 deals with accession continua ( specifically accession industrial)
o Sowingeach deposit of seed gives rise merely to a single crop or
harvest
o Plantingmore or less permanent trunks or trees are produced,
which in turn produce fruits themselves; without replanting crops
will continue to grow every season
Art 445 can be applied only if the owner of the land is known. If
unknownno decision on the ownership of the things planted, built or
sown can be made
Basic principles of accession continua ( accession industrial)
o accessory follows the principalthe owner of the principal must
belong also the accessions
Exception: art 120 FC
o The union or incorporation must (w/ certain exceptions) be effected
in such a manner that to separate the principal from the accessory
would result in substantial injury to either
o Good faithmay be held responsible; not penalized
o Bad faithmay be penalized
o No one should enrich himself unjustly at the expense of another
o Bad faith of one party neutralizes the bad faith of another=both
considered in good faith
Art 446; PRESUMPTIONS:
o The works, sowing and planting are made by the owner
o They were made at the owners expense




Rules when landowner constructs/plants on his land with the materials of
another
Rights and
obligation
Landowner in GOOD FAITH Landowner in BAD FAITH



LAND-
OWNER
Becomes the owner of the
materials but must pay for
their value
Becomes the owner of the
materials but must pay for
their value plus damages
Exception: they can be
removed without
destruction to the work
made or to the plantsthe
owner of the materials can
then remove them
Exception: owner of the
materials decided to remove
then w/n destruction would
be caused

OWNER OF
THE
MATERIALS
Entitled to reimbursement;
provided that he does not
remove them
Entitled to ABSOLUTE right of
removal and damages; w/n
substantial injury is caused
Entitled to removal;
provided no substantial
injury is caused
Entitled to reimbursement
and damages in case he
chooses not to remove

Landowner wants to return the materials instead of reimbursement:
o MAY RETURN= No damage to the materials and they have not
been transformed
o MAY NOT RETURN= damage has been made and there has been
transformation
Landowner in good faith; owner of materials in bad faith:
o Law is silent; landowner will be exempted from reimbursement
plus consequential damages; Owner of materials would lose all
rights to them
Good faith is always presumed
ART 448 RULE WHEN ON A LAND OF A PERSON IN GOOD FAITH,
ANOTHER BUILD, SOWS OR PLANTS IN GOOD FAITH
o Applies only when the builder, planter or sower believes he has
right to do so because he thinks he owns the land or believes
himself to have claim in the title
o The landowner has choice or option not the builder
Landowner has 2 options:
To appropriate for himself the house upon
payment of the proper indemnity
To compel the builder to buy the land upon
which the house has been built, unless the value
of the land be considerably more than the value
of the house
o Landowner has no right of removal or demolition, UNLESS after
having selected a compulsory sale, the builder fails to pay for the
land
o Builder cannot compel the owner of the land to sell such land to
him; right of builder is the right to reimbursement for the
improvements
o The option granted to the landowner is not absolute, as when it is
impractical for the landowner to exercise the first alternative
o If the builder is unwilling to buy, he must vacate the land and pay
rentals until he does so
o Current market value of the improvementsbasis of
reimbursement
Forms of accession natural
o Alluvium (art 457), avulsion (art 459) , change of course of rivers
(art 461-462), formation of islands (arts 464-465)
Alluviumthe soil deposited or added to (accretion) the lands adjoining
the banks of rivers and gradually received as an effect of the current of
waters
o If a river bed gradually changes, the rules on alluvium can also
apply
o AccretionProcess whereby the soil is deposited
Essential requisites of alluvium
o Deposit should be gradual and imperceptible
o Cause is the current of the river
o Current must be that of a river
o River must continue to exist
o The increase must be comparatively little
Requisites; accretion benefits the riparian owner:
o That the deposit be gradual and imperceptible
o Resulted from the effects of the current of the water
o Land where the accretion takes place is adjacent to the bank of
the river
Failure to register the acquired alluvial deposit by accretion for a period
of 50 yrsacquisition thru prescription by 3
rd
persons
Avulsionthe process whereby the current of the river, creek or torrent
segregates from an estate on its bank a known proportion of and and
transfers it to another estate
ALLUVIUM AVULSION
Deposit of the soil is gradual Sudden or abrupt process may be
seen
Soil cannot be identified Identifiable or verifiable
Belongs to the owner of the
property to which it is attached
Belongs to the owner from whose
property it was detached

Art 461-riverbeds
o In proportionapplies when there are two or more owners who
have lost a portion of their lots; no application if only one owner
has lost
o Requisites:
Change must be sudden in order that the old river bed
may be identified
The changing of the course must be more or less
permanent and not temporary over flooding of anothers
land
The change of the river bed must be natural caused by
natural forces
There must be definite abandonment by the government
The river must continue to exist; it must not completely
dry up or disappear
If dried uppublic dominion
Adjunctionthe process by virtue of which two movable things belonging to
different owners are united in such a way that they for a single object
Different kinds:
o Inclusion (sapphire set on a ring)
o Soldering (joining of legs made of lead to a body also made of
lead)
o Note:
Ferruminatioobjects are of the same metal
Plumbaturaobjects are different metal
Escritura ( or writing)
Pintura (or painting)
Weaving
Test to determine which is the principal and accessory
o The principal is (in order of preference):
Which the other has been united as an ornament, for its
use or perfection
That of the greater value
That of the greater volume
Which has greater merits
ADJUNCTION MIXTURE SPECIFICATION
Involves atleast 2
things
Involves atleast 2 things May involve only one
thing ( may be more)
but form is changed
Accessory follows
principal
Co-ownership results Accessory follows
principal
The things joined
retain their nature
The things mixed or
confused either retain
or lose their respective
natures
The new object retains
or preserves the nature
of the original object