Title II: O W N E R S H I P Chapter 1: O W N E R S H I P I N G E N E R A L 427. Ownership may be exercised over things or rights. The “things” and “rights” are the subject matter of ownership o “thing”—any material object; corporeal property o “rights”—, whether real or personal, are classified as incorporeal property The res of rights may be corporeal (e.g. mortgage on real property) or incorporeal (e.g. mortgage on the right of usufruct) Ownership—independent right of a person to the exclusive enjoyment and control of a thing including its disposition and recovery subject only to the restrictions or limitations established by law and the rights of others Beneficial ownership—ownership recognized by law and capable of being enforced in court, as distinct from legal ownership and control o Used to indicate the interest of a beneficiary in trust property— “equitable ownership” o Used to refer to power of a shareholder of a corporation to buy or sell, the shares though the shareholder is not registered in the corporation’s books as the owner Naked ownership—enjoyment of all the benefits and privileges of ownership, as against the bare title to property 428. The owner has the right to enjoy and dispose of a thing, without other limitations than those established by law. The owner has also a right of action against the holder and possessor of the thing in order to recover it. The word “thing” in this article includes “rights” Ownership confers certain rights to the owner: (attributes of ownership although not all of them may flow from ownership) a. Right to possess (jus possidendi)—right to hold a thing or enjoy a right; it may be exercised in one’s own name or in that of another o However, right to use is not necessarily included (e.g. concept of a holder or deposit) o Ownership is different from possession o Judgment of ownership may not include possession (e.g. when possession is awarded to a tenant or lessee) Roan Salanga 2A Property o Where ownership was decided in a judgment, the delivery of possession should be considered included except where the actual possessor has shown a valid right over the property enforceable against the owner thereof o There is a duty by the vendor to deliver the possession of the thing sold in a contract of sale b. Right to use and enjoy (jus utendi)—includes the right to transform and the right to exclude any person from the enjoyment and disposal thereof o An owner cannot make use of his property in such a manner as to injure the rights of a third person; otherwise, he may be held liable for damages o The use of property has a social function to contribute to the common good c. Right to the fruits (jus fruendi)—may be natural, industrial, or civil d. Right to accessories (jus accessionis)—right by accession to everything which is produce thereby, or which is incorporated or attached thereto, either naturally or artificially o Accessions—used to refer to the fruits of a thing e. Right to consume the thing by its use (jus abutendi) f. Right to dispose or alienate (jus disponendi)—may alienate or dispose totally, as in sale and donation, or partially, without transferring ownership, encumber as in lease, pledge, and mortgage o This right also include the right not to dispose g. Right to vindicate or recover (jus vindicandi)—the owner has a right of action against the holder and possessor of the thing or right in order to recover it o The true owner must resort to judicial process for the recovery of the property; he cannot take the law into his own hands o This right can be transferred by the owner, and his transferee can maintain ether these actions against the wrongdoer o Recovery of personal property Proper action is the remedy of replevin or manual delivery of personal property which is governed by Rule 60 of the Rules of Court Replevin—both a form of principal remedy (e.g. to regain possession) and of a provisional remedy that would allow the plaintiff to retain the thing wrongfully detained by another pendent lite This action prescribes 4 or 8 years from the time the possession thereof is lost, in accordance with Art. 1132 Page 1 of 5 A property that is validly in custodial egis cannot be the subject of replevin suit o Recovery of real property (3 kinds of action) a. Forcible entry or unlawful detainer—accion interdicta—two forms of ejectment suit o Must be brought in the proper MTC within 1 year from the date of actual entry on the land or from the date of last demand to vacate o The mere issue here is physical or material possession (possession de facto), not juridical or civil possession (possession de jure) o An action for forcible entry is a quieting process o Summary in nature o Main difference between the two actions lies in the time when possession became unlawful—in forcible entry, from the time of entry, while in unlawful detainer, possession which was at first lawful later became illegal b. Plenary action to recover possession or accion publiciana—an ordinary civil proceeding to recover the better right of possession of realty independently of title o The action must be brought in the proper RTC within a period of 10 years otherwise the real right of possession is lost o The issue involved is not possession de facto but possession de jure of realty independently of the title o This action is also used to refer to an ejectment suit filed after the expiration of 1 year from the occurrence of the cause of action or year from the unlawful withholding of possession of the realty c. Action to recover possession based on ownership or accion reivindicatoria—seeks the recovery based on ownership which includes jus utendi and jus fruendi o Brought in the RTC in an ordinary civil proceeding o The issue involved is ownership which ordinarily includes possession although a person may be declared owner but he may not be entitled to possession o Action for reconveyance—the decree of registration is respected as incontrovertible but what is sought is the transfer of the property which has been wrongfully or erroneously registered in another person’s name, to its rightful and legal owner, or to one with a better right Roan Salanga 2A Property This must allege 2 facts: (1) plaintiff was the owner of the land or possessed the land in the concept of owner, and (2) defendant had illegally dispossessed him of the land Injunction as a remedy for recovery of possession o Injunction—a writ framed according to the circumstances of the case commanding an act which the court regards as essential to justice, or retraining an act it deems contrary to equity and good conscience There must exist a clear and positive right over the property in question which should be judicially protected through the writ The acts against which the injunction is to be directed are violative of said right o Injunctions is not designed to protect contingent on future rights o Its proper function is to maintain the status quo at the commencement of the action o This may be availed of in: a. Actions for forcible entry b. Ejectment cases c. Possessor admittedly owner or in possession in concept of owner d. Possessor clearly not entitled to property e. Extraordinary cases Writ of possession as remedy o Writ of possession—generally understood to be an order whereby a sheriff is commanded to place a person in possession of a real or personal property, such as when a property is extrajudicially foreclosed o The writ is improper to eject another from possession unless sought in connection with a land registration proceeding, a foreclosure, judicial or extra-judicial, of mortgage of real property provided that the mortgagor has possession and no third party has intervened, and execution sales Limitations on the right of ownership a. Imposed in general by the State in the exercise of the power of taxation, police power, and power of eminent domain b. Imposed by law such as legal easement and the requirement of legitime in succession c. Imposed by the grantor of the property on the grantee, either by contract or by last will d. Imposed by the owner himself, such as voluntary easement, mortgage, pledge, and lease e. Those arising from conflicts of private rights such as those which take place in accession continua Police power Page 2 of 5 o Power of the State to enact such laws or regulations in relation to persons and property as may promote public health, public morals, public safety, and the general welfare and convenience of the people Power of taxation o Power of the State to impose charge or burden upon persons, property, or property rights, for the use and support of the government and to enable it to discharge its appropriate functions 429. The owner or lawful possessor of a thing has the right to exclude any person from the enjoyment and disposal thereof. For this purpose, he may use such force as may be reasonably necessary to repel or prevent an actual or threatened unlawful physical invasion or usurpation of his property. Embodies the Doctrine of Self-Help a. The person defending his property must be the owner or lawful possessor b. He must use only such force as may be reasonably necessary to repel or prevent an invasion or usurpation of his property c. This can only be exercised at the time of an actual or threatened dispossession or immediately after dispossession to regain possession d. The person against whom force is employed has acted or is acting wrongfully or unlawfully 430. Every owner may enclose or fence his land or tenements by means of walls, ditches, live or dead hedges, or by any other means without detriment to servitudes constituted thereon. Right to enclose or fence Limitation to this right is the right of others to existing servitudes imposed on the land or tenement 431. The owner of a thing cannot make use thereof in such a manner as to injure the rights of a third person. This restriction is of a fundamental character and is deemed to exist even without an expressed provision to this effect This is particularly useful when dealing with nuisances 432. The owner of a thing has no right to prohibit the interference of another with the same, if the interference is necessary to avert an imminent danger and the threatened damage, compared to the damage Roan Salanga 2A Property arising to the owner from the interference, is much greater. The owner may demand from the person benefited indemnity for the damage to him. Interference necessary—necessary to avert an imminent danger and the threatened damage to the actor or a third person o Includes all acts to another’s property including its destruction like during a fire o The measure of rational necessity is to be found in the situation as it appears to the actor and he must be given the benefit of reasonable doubt as to whether he employed rational means to avert the threatened injury Damage to another much greater than damage to property o He may demand from the person benefitted indemnity for the damage to him unless the owner would have been liable under the law for the damage if the danger had not been prevented 433. Actual possession under claim of ownership raises a disputable presumption of ownership. The true owner must resort to judicial process for the recovery of the property. Two requisites to raise the disputable presumption of ownership: a. There must be actual (physical or material) possession of the property b. The possession must be under claim of ownership The term “judicial process” could mean no less than an ejectment suit or reinvindicatory action, in which the ownership claims of the contending parties may be properly heard and adjudicated 434. In an action to recover, the property must be identified, and the plaintiff must rely on the strength of his title and not on the weakness of the defendant’s claim. In an action to recover, the person who claims that he has a better right to the property must satisfactorily prove both ownership and identity 1. Identity of the property—the party who desires to recover must fix the identity of the land claimed by describing the location, area and boundaries thereof a. Doubt as to identity of land—the court may conduct an investigation in the form of hearing or an ocular inspection, or both, to enable it to know positively the land in litigation b. Sufficient identification of land—failure to comply with this will result in the failure of action Page 3 of 5 c. Conflict between area and boundaries of land—the boundaries of a land prevails over the area if the boundaries identifies the parcel of land o However, the actual size of the property gains importance if the boundaries do not identify the land beyond doubt d. Precise location and extent of land—while identity of the property must be established, the precise location and extend of the lands is not necessary or essential to maintain a judgment for possession 2. Strength of plaintiff’s title—must litigate the issue of identity of the property, and likewise of ownership a. Presumption of sufficient title—the possessor under claim of ownership has in his favor the legal presumption that he holds the possession by reason of a sufficient tile, and he cannot be forced to show it b. Action founded on positive rights Evidence to show ownership 1. A Torrens Title 2. Title from the Spanish Government 3. Patent duly registered in the Registry of Property by the grantee 4. Deed of Sale 5. Operating a business for 9 years in defendant’s own name representing himself to the public to be the owner and the plaintiff never made any protest or objection 6. Occupation of a building for a long time by a party without paying rent 7. A letter in which defendant recognized the ownership of the property by the plaintiff 8. Adverse and exclusive possession and ownership of parcels of land for a long time attested not only by witnesses but also by declaration of properties, payment of taxes and a deed of mortgage executed by the possessor’s predecessors-in-interest as owners of the property Quantum of Proof needed a. Preponderance of evidence—evidence as a whole adduced by one side is superior to that of the other o Equiponderance of Evidence—there is nothing in the evidence which shall incline it to one side or the other, the court will find for the defendant b. Indicia of claim of ownership—prima facie evidence of ownership like tax declarations and tax receipts c. Conclusiveness of certificates of title Roan Salanga 2A Property o Original certificate of title—indicates true and legal ownership of a private land 435. No person shall be deprived of his property except by competent authority and for public use and always upon payment of just compensation. Should this requirement be not first complied with, the courts shall protect and, in a proper case, restore the owner in his possession. Power of Eminent Domain—right or power of the State or of those to whom the power has been lawfully delegated to take or expropriate private property for public use upon paying to the owner a just compensation to be ascertained according to law Requisites for Eminent Domain: 1. Taking must be done by competent authority 2. It must be for public use 3. Owner must be paid just compensation 4. Requirement of due process of law must be observed 436. When any property is condemned or seized by competent authority in the interest of health, safety or security, the owner thereof shall not be entitled to compensation, unless he can show that such condemnation or seizure is unjustified. The exercise of police power by the destruction of the property which is itself a public nuisance, or the prohibition of its use in a particular way, whereby its value becomes depreciated, is very different from taking property for public use, or from depriving a person of his property without due process An individual whose property is taken or destroyed by virtue of a police power is not totally without compensation o He derives some compensation although it is not immediate or possibly apparent 437. The owner of a parcel of land is the owner of its surface and of everything under it, and he can construct thereon any works or make any plantations and excavations which he may deem proper, without detriment to servitudes and subject to special laws and ordinances. He cannot complain of the reasonable requirements of aerial navigation. Page 4 of 5 The right of the owner to construct any works or make any plantations and excavations on his land is subject to: a. Existing servitudes or easements b. Special laws c. Local ordinances d. Reasonable requirements of aerial navigation e. Rights of third persons 438. Hidden treasure belongs to the owner of the land, building, or other property on which it is found. Nevertheless, when the discovery is made on the property of another, or of the State or any of its subdivisions, and by chance, one-half thereof shall be allowed to the finder. If the finder is a trespasser, he shall not be entitled to any share of the treasure. If the things found be of interest to science or the arts, the State may acquire them at their just price, which shall be divided in conformity with the rule stated. If a person has been employed precisely to look for hidden treasure, he is not a trespasser but is not also entitled to any part of the treasure which may be found unless there is agreement to the contrary If the treasure is found by the lessee or usufructuary on the land or tenement, he gets one-half o If found by another person, one-half goes to him and the other to the owner of the property in which it was found 439. By treasure is understood, for legal purposes, any hidden and unknown deposit of money, jewelry, or other precious objects, the lawful ownership of which does not appear. Where the things discovered do not qualify as a hidden treasure, the rules on occupation as a mode of acquiring ownership would be applicable Roan Salanga 2A Property Page 5 of 5