Clarisse

 Osteria
 notes
414.
Things (cosa) – any object that exists and is capable of
satisfying some human needs
Includes: 1) objects already possessed or owned (res alicujus)
2) those that are susceptible of appropriation
Property (bienes) – any thing which is already the object or
appropriation or is found in the possession of man
-In civil law: every species of title, inchoate or complete, legal
or equitable
Requisites:
1) Utility or the capacity to satisfy some human wants – food,
shelter, clothing, knowledge, comfort, recreation, etc.
-Generally economic, endows property with value susceptible
of pecuniary estimation
2) Substantivity or individuality – quality of having existence
apart from any other thing (ex. Parts of the human body such
as blood, hair and teeth cannot exist by themselves
independent of the body, can only become property when they
get separated)
3) Appropriability - susceptibility of being possessed by men
Not property:
a) Common things (res communes) – not capable of
appropriation in its entirety but may be appropriated under
certain conditions (ex. Air à oxygen (already property))
b) No owner (res nullius) – either because 1) it has
not been appropriated (hidden treasures, wild animals) or 2)
lost or abandoned by the owner
c) Not susceptible of appropriation because of
physical impossibility (eg sun or moon) or legal impossibility
(human body while the person is still alive) –however, under
certain conditions, the body of the person or parts may be the
subject matter of a contract
Word “property” is sometimes used to denote the thing with
respect to w/c legal relations between persons exist -the res
over rights (particularly ownership) may be exercised – and
sometimes to the rights with respect to the thing
Rights as property – 2 kinds - 1) Real 2) Personal
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Book
Personal right – right or power of a person (creditor or obligee)
to demand from another (debtor or obligor) a definite passive
subject, the fulfillment of the latter’s obligation; jus in personam
or jus ad rem
Elements:
1) Active subject – person in whom the right resides
2) Passive subject – person against whom the right is available
3) Objects or prestation – conduct which must be observed by
the debtor which may consist in giving (a thing or property),
doing, or not doing
4) Juridical or legal tie – binds the parties to the obligation (can
be determined by knowing the source of the obligation – law,
contract, quasi-contract, delict, quasi-delict)
Contract of sale where price has been paid – 1) vendee, 2)
vendor, 3) legal delivery of the land 4) contract between them
Distinctions between real rights and personal rights
1) Number of persons who take part in the legal relation
R: definite active subject who has a real right against all
persons as an indefinite passive subject
P: definite active subject and definite passive subject
2) By the subject matter
R: corporeal thing (tangible)
P: incorporeal thing eg. Prestation demanded of the debtor
3) By the manner in which the will of the active subject acts
R: directly
P: indirectly through the promise of the obligor
4) By the causes of their creation
R: “mode” and “title”
P: “title”
5) Modes of extinction
R: loss or destruction of the thing over which it is exercised
P: survives the subject matter
6) Nature of the action arising from the juridical relation
R: directed against the whole world, giving rise to real actions
rd
(actio in rem) against 3 persons
P: binding or enforceable only against a particular person
(debtor), giving rise to personal actions (action in personam)

Real right - right or interest belonging to a person over a Classification of property

specific thing without a definite passive subject against whom 1) Nature - CC
such right may be personally enforced; jus in re a) Real
1) Cases – ownership or dominion, surface right, possession, b) Personal
usufruct, easement or servitude, hereditary right, conventional c) Mixed
or legal redemption, lease record, pledge, real mortgage, 2) Ownership - CC
antichresis and chattel mortgage a) Public
2) Subject matter – may be personal property (eg pledge and b) Private
chattel mortgage), real property (easement, lease record, real 3) Divisibility
mortgage, and antichresis), or either personal or real property a) Divisible (sack of rice)
(ownership, possession, usufruct, hereditary right, and b) Indivisible (car)
conventional or legal redemption) 4) Consumability
3) Kind as to property – if the res of a real right is real property, a) Consumable
the right itself is real property; otherwise, it is personal property b) Non-consumable
Strictly speaking, rights are not “things” – neither movable nor 5) Susceptibility of substitution:
immovable a) Fungible
Classification of real rights based upon dominion b) Non-fungible
1) Domino pleno – powers to enjoy and dispose are united: a) 6) Alienability
Dominion, b) (Civil) Possession and c) Hereditary right a) Within the commerce of man
2) Domino menos pleno – powers to enjoy and dispose are b) Outside the commerce of men
separated a) Surface right b) Usufruct 7) Existence in time
3) Domino limitado – powers to enjoy and dispose, though a) Existing or present
united, are limited: a) By a charge such as easement, tax, etc. b) Future (ungathered crops)
b) By a guaranty, such as mortgage, pledge, etc. c) By a 8) Dependence or importance
privilege, such as pre-emption, redemption, lease record, etc. a) Principal (land on which a house is built)
b) Accessory (house built on a land)

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 Osteria
 notes
9) Definiteness or designation
a) Generic
b) Specific
10) Manifestability to the senses
a) Corporeal
b) Incorporeal (rights)
Basis of classification – mobility or immobility
Manner of classification – enumeration (415 – real, 416 and
417 – personal)
Generally, real properties are things that are permanently or
intended to be permanently attached or fixed to another thing,
or cannot be transferred from place to place, or if they can be
transferred, the transfer cannot be done without injury or
damage to the immovable to which they are attached;
otherwise, they are personal properties
Immovables – law of the country where they are located
Movables – personal law of the owner, law of his nationality,
law of his domicile
Usurpation of property- only real
Theft, robbery – only personal
Only real property can be the subject matter or real mortgage
and antichresis, while only personal property can be the
subject matter of simple loan or mutuum, voluntary deposit,
pledge and chattel mortgage
Donation of immovable – public instrument
Donation of movable – orally or in writing unless value exceeds
P5k in w/c case, private instrument
Prescription – immovables -30 yrs; movables – 8 yrs
Mixed property or semi-movables
1) Movables (eg machines, paintings) that are rendered
immovable by reason of their being immobilized by destination
or through attachment to immovables
2) Immovables but are treated as movables because they can
be transplanted (eg plants) or dismantled and moved (eg
house of light materials) to another place w/o impairing their
substance
3) Animals in animal houses, pigeon houses, etc. which are
classified as immovables though transferable from place to
place or they can move by themselves.
415. Immovable property
1) Lands, 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 thereof
3) Everything attached to an immovable in a fixed manner, in
such a way that it cannot be separated therefrom w/o breaking
the material or deterioration of the object
4) Statutes, reliefs, 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
 
Clarisse
Property
Book
6) Animal houses, pigeon houses, beehives, fish ponds, or
breeding places of similar nature, in case the owner has placed
them or preserves them with 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 river, lake
or coast
10) Contracts for public works, servitude and other real rights
over immovable property
Classes of immovable/real property
1) Nature – it cannot be carried from place to place (1 and 2)
2) Incorporation – attached to an immovable in a fixed manner
to be an integral part thereof (1,2,3,4,6)
3) Destination – placed in an immovable for the utility it gives to
the activity carried thereon (4,5,6,7,9)
4) Analogy – classified by express provision of law (10)
1)
Lands – best example, immovable even when rented
Buildings – immovable provided it is more or less a permanent
structure independent of and regardless of the ownership of
the land on w/c it is erected since the law makes no distinction;
general rule
Once demolished, immovable character ceases
Roads and constructions – immovable public or private; wall or
fence construction by incorporation
Real property treated by the parties as personal property
1) Chattel mortgage on real property
2) Chattel mortgage on house built on rented land – law makes
no distinction as to the ownership of the land on which the
house is built (Makati Leasing); Tumalad vs. Vicencio
3) Chattel mortgage on immobilized machineries and
equipment
4) Lease of immobilized machines treated as personal property
2)
Trees and plants – once cut or uprooted, become movable,
except in case of uprooted timber, which accdg to Manresa still
forms an integral part of timber land; spontaneous products of
the soil; trees differ from plants in size
Growing fruits
3)
things included are called rex vinta in Roman law, such as
walls, canals and aqueducts; immovable by incorporation or
attachment
Effect of temporary separation from immovable – Partidas: still
immovable, but Tolentino says that rule is no longer controlling
Intent to attach permanently essential – physical attachment
not enough
4)
Objects must be placed by owner
Intent to attach permanently essential
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 Osteria
 notes
5)
Machinery must be placed by the owner of the tenement or his
agent – Davao Sawmill, Tumalad, Makati Leasing
Industry or works must be carried on in a building or on a piece
of land
Machinery, etc. must tend directly to meet the needs of the
said industry or works – Berkenkotter
Machinery immobilized by destination
Work animals
Where movables merely incidentals (not immovable
eg. Cash registers), but if essential such as machineries for
breweries used to make softdrinks, immovable, trucks movable
Permanent part of tenement – Berkenkotter
Electric poles and steel supports – poles and steel
supports of electric companies like Meralco personal property
Attachment or incorporation to immovable not
essential – when no longer used in industry, they revert to
being movables, although not separated from immovable
6)
Constructions mentioned must permanently form part of the
land and so intended by the owner
7)
immovable by destination
fertilizers kept in a barn not immovable
even fertilizers already on the land for the cultivation of which
they are intended, but still in their containers are movable
8)
once severed, they become movable, for they are no longer
mines, etc. but minerals
waters –sea (as to the part which may be appropriated), river,
lake, canals, aqueducts
9)
since “waters running or stagnant” are considered immovable,
it is logical that constructions that are united to them in a fixed
and permanent manner, such as “docks and structures” are
also immovable
ships or vessels- considered as personal property, but partake
the nature and condition of real property
10)
Where the res of a real right is real property, the right itself is
personal property. Hence, ownership is real property if the
thing owned is immovable and personal property if movable.
But a real estate mortgage which is not registered in the
Registry of Property cannot be classified as immovable
property, although it is valid as between the contracting parties.
A personal right is always regarded personal property. The
exception is in the case of contracts for public works which are
considered as real property.
416. Personal property
 
Clarisse
Property
Book
1)Movables susceptible of appropriation which are not included
in the preceding article
2)Real property which by any special provision of law is
considered as personalty
3)Forces of nature which are brought under control by science
4)In general, all things which can be transported for place to
place without impairment of the real property to which they are
fixed.
417. Personal property
1)Obligations and actions which have for the object movables
or demandable sums
2)Shares of stock of agricultural, commercial and industrial
entities, even though they may have real estate
Classes of movable or personal property
1) ships or vessels, ½ interest in a business (drug store),
automobiles, jewelry, books, etc.
2) growing crops recognized as personal property by chattel
mortgage law, machinery placed on a tenement by lessee or
usufructuary who did not act as the agent of the tenement
owner (Davao Sawmill)
3) electricity, gas, rays, heat, light, fire, oxygen, atomic energy,
water power, etc.
4) 3 tests to determine whether a particular object is movable
property or not:
-whether the property can be transported or carried from place
to place
-whether such change of location can be made without injuring
the immovable to which the object may be attached
-whether the object does not fall within any of the ten cases in
415
5) personal rights; includes a variety of contracts, promises or
obligations which confer on one party the right to recover
movable property or a sum of money from another by action. A
promissory note is personal property because it gives the
creditor the right to collect his credit but if a loan is secured by
a real estate mortgage, the loan is real property by analogy, as
a real right over immovable property
demandable sums – amounts are liquidated or determined
obligations and actions must be legally demandable or
enforceable
6) entities – all juridical persons, even partnerships even
though they do not issue shares of stocks
stock – participation or interest
Other incorporeal personal property – intellectual property such
as copyrights, patents, trademarks, rights to invention, etc.
intellectual creation is recognized in the civil code as a mode of
acquiring ownership
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