PROPERTY: Preliminary Provisions

 

CONCEPT OF THINGS AND PROPERTY

Thing (cosa)

-          generally understood to be any object that exists and is capable of satisfying some human needs

-          includes both objects that are already possessed or owned (res alicujus) and those that are susceptible of appropriation

-          broader in scope

Property (bienes)

-          refer to anything which is already the object of appropriation or is found in the possession of man

 

·         The Civil Code, however, uses the two terms interchangeably and synonymously.

CLASSIFICATION OF THINGS

(a)   Res nullius

§  Belonging to no one

§  may have no owner because it has not yet been appropriated or because it has been lost or abandoned by the owner.

(b)   Res communes

§  While in particular, no one owns common property, still in another sense, res communes are really owned by everybody in that their use and enjoyment are given to all mankind

(c)    Res alicujus

§  Object, tangible or intangible, which are owned privately, either in a collective or individual capacity

CLASSIFICATION OF PROPERTY

(A)   Mobility and non-mobility

1.       Movable or personal property

2.       Immovable or real property

(B)   Ownership

1.       Public dominion

2.       Private dominion

(C)   Alienability

1.       Within the commerce of man – may be made the object of contracts or judicial transactions

2.       Outside the commerce of man

(D)   Existence

1.       Present property (res existentes)

2.       Future property (res futurae)

(E)    Materiality or immateriality

1.       Tangible or corporeal – objects which can be seen or touched

2.       Intangible or incorporeal

(F)    Dependence or Importance

1.       Principal

2.       Accessory

(G)  Capability of substitution

1.       Fungible – capable of substitution by other things of the same quantity and quality

2.       Non-fungible – incapable of such substitution, hence the identical thing must be given or returned

(H)   Nature or definiteness

1.       Generic – one referring to a group or class

2.       Specific – one referring to a single, unique object

(I)     Whether in the custody of the court or free

1.       In the custody of the court (custodial legis) – when it has been seized by an officer under a writ of attachment or under a writ of execution

2.       Free property

 

REQUISITES OF PROPERTY

1.)    Utility

-          The capacity to satisfy some human wants

-          Generally economic, endows property with value susceptible of pecuniary estimation

2.)    Substantivity or individuality

-          The quality of having existence apart from any other thing

3.)    Appropriability

-          The susceptibility of being possessed by men

RIGHTS AS PROPERTY

·         The word property is used sometimes to denote the thing with respect to which legal relations between persons exist and sometimes to the rights with respect to the thing.

·         Two kinds:

1.       Real right (jus in re)

2.       Personal right

REAL RIGHTS (jus in re)

-          The right or interest belonging to a person over a specific thing without definite passive subject against whom such right may be personally enforced

-          Strictly speaking, rights are not “things”; hence, they are neither movable nor immovable. However, since they must be classified for legal purposes, their classification should naturally follow that of the things or objects over which they are exercised.

-          If the res of a real right is a real property, the right itself is real property; otherwise, it is personal property.

CLASSIFICATION OF REAL RIGHTS BASED UPON DOMINION

(1)    Domino pleno – the powers to enjoy and to dispose are united

(a)    Dominion

(b)   (Civil) Possession

(c)    Hereditary right

(2)    Domino menos pleno – the powers to enjoy and to dispose are separated

(a)    Surface right

(b)   usufruct

(3)    Domino limitado – the powers to enjoy and to dispose, though united, are limited

(a)    By a charge

(b)   By a guaranty

(c)    By a privilege

Personal rights (jus in personam/ jus ad rem)

-          The right or power of a person to demand from another as a definite passive subject, the fulfillment of the latter’s obligation

-          More properly called right or obligation

-          Elements:

(1)    Active subject – the person in whom the right resides

(2)    Passive subject – the person against whom the right is available

(3)    Object or prestation – the conduct which must be observed by the debtor which may consist in giving, doing, or not doing

(4)    Juridical or legal tie – binds the parties to the obligation

REAL RIGHT V. PERSONAL RIGHTS

	REAL RIGHTS	PERSONAL RIGHTS
By number of persons who take part in the legal relation	There is a definite active subject who has a right against all persons generally as indefinite passive subject	There is definite active subject and a definite passive subject
By the subject matter	Object is generally a corporeal thing	Always an incorporeal thing
By the manner in which the will of the active subject acts	Generally acts directly	Acts indirectly through the promise of the obligor
By the causes of their creation	Created by “mode” and “title”	Created merely by “title”
By the modes of their extinction	Extinguished by the loss or destruction of the thing over which it is exercised	Survives the subject matter
By the nature of the actions arising from the juridical relation	Directed against the whole world; gives rise to real actions (action in rem) against third persons	Binding or enforeceable only against a particular person; gives rise to personal actions (action in personam)

 

CLASSIFICATION INTO REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY

·         “Immovable property” and “movable property” are the civil law terms in English for the Spanish “bienes immuebles” and “bienes muebles”. However, the American law terms “real property” and “personal property” are of general use in Philippines.

·         Art. 414 give the most fundamental juristic classification of things considered with respect to ownership. It is based on the nature of the thing itself, that is, its mobility or immobility

·         Real properties are those enumerated in Art. 415 while personal properties are those enumerated in Art. 416 & 417.

·         The enumerations are not complete nor do they supply an absolute criterion on the distinction of property into real and 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.

IMPORTANCE OF THE CLASSIFICATION

·         The condition of property as movable or immovable affects all property, such as acquisition, use, and loss, and particularly such important aspects thereof as prescription, registration, possession, etc., which are governed by different provisions of law.

MIXED PROPERTY OR SEMI-MOVABLES

-          Things which are strictly neither movables nor immovable but partake of the nature of both

(1)    Movables that are rendered immovable by reason of their being immobilized by destination or through attachment to movables

(2)    Immovable but are treated as movables because they can be transplanted or dismantled and moved to another place without impairing substance

(3)    Animals in animal houses, pigeon houses, etc. which are classified as immovable though transferable from place to place or they can move by themselves

RECLASSIFICATION DISTINGUISHED FROM CONVERSION

·         Reclassification

§  act of specifying how agricultural lands shall be utilized for non-agricultural uses as embodied in the land use plan, subject to the requirements and procedures for land use conversion

§  does not automatically allow a landowner to change its use, he has to undergo the process of conversion before he is permitted to use the agricultural land for other purposes

·         Conversion

§  The act of changing the current use of a piece of agricultural land into some other use as approved by DAR

THE HUMAN BODY

·         The human body, whether alive, or dead, is neither real nor personal property, for it is not even property at all, in that it generally cannot be appropriated

·         While a human being is alive, he cannot be the object of a contract, for he is considered outside the commerce of man. He may offer to another the use of various parts of his body, even the entire body itself in obligations requiring demonstration of strength or posing in several ways. He may donate part of his blood, may even sell part of his hair, but he cannot sell his body.