DIFFERENT MODES OF ACQUIRING OWNERSHIP

 

DIFFERENT MODES OF ACQUIRING OWNERSHIP

CONCEPT OF MODE AND TITLE

MODE is the specific cause which produces them as the result of the presence of a special condition of things, of the capacity and intention of persons, and of the fulfillment of the requisites established by law.

TITLE is the juridical act, right, or condition which gives the means to their acquisition but which in itself is insufficient to produce them.

·         Sometimes the mode is at the same time the title. Ex. Succession – delivery is not essential for transfer of ownership because inheritance is transmitted automatically to the heirs through and upon the death of the decedent.

MODE	TITLE
Directly and immediately produces a real right	Serves merely to give the occasion for its acquisition or existence
cause	Means
Proximate cause	Remote cause
Essence of the right which is to be created or transmitted	Means whereby that essence is transmitted

 

MODES OF ACQUIRING OWNERSHIP

A.      Original modes – independent of any pre-existing or preceding title or right of another

1.       Occupation (Art. 713)

2.       Creation or work (Art. 721)

B.      Derivative Modes -- based on a pre-existing right held by another person

1.       Succession (Art. 774)

2.       Donation (Art. 725)

3.       Prescription (Art. 1106)

4.       Law

5.       Tradition as a consequence of certain contracts

·         Registration is not a mode of acquiring ownership and other real rights but only a means of confirming the fact of their existence with notice to the world at large.

LAW AS A MODE OF ACQUISITION

·         There are no special rules provided in the Civil Code for law and tradition as a mode of acquiring ownership and other real rights.

·         It can be said that all the modes of acquisition other than law derive their recognition as such from the law itself.

·         However, when the Civil Code speaks of law as a mode of acquisition, it refers to it as a distinct mode or to those cases where the law, independent of the other modes, directly vests ownership of a thing in a person once the prescribed conditions or requisites are present or complied with.

·         EX.:

(1)    Hidden treasure belongs to the owner of the land, building, or other property on which it is found. (Art. 438.)

(2)    Whatever is built, planted or sown on the land of another and the improvements or repairs made thereon belong to the owner of the land, subject to the provisions of the following articles. (Art. 445.)

(3)    River beds which are abandoned through the natural change in the course of the waters ipso facto belong to the owners whose lands are occupied by the new course in proportion to the area lost. However, the owners of the lands adjoining the old bed shall have the right to acquire the same by paying the value thereof, which value shall not exceed the value of the area occupied by the new bed. (Art. 461.)

(4)    Whenever two movable things belonging to different owners are, without bad faith, united in such a way that they form a single object, the owner of the principal thing acquires the accessory, indemnifying the former owner thereof for its value. (Art. 466.)

(5)    Fruits naturally falling upon adjacent land belong to the owner of said land. (Art. 681.)

(6)    When a person who is not the owner of a thing sells or alienates and delivers it, and later the seller or grantor acquires title thereto, such title passes by operation of law to the buyer or grantee. (Art. 1434.)

(7)    If property is acquired through mistake or fraud, the person obtaining it is, by force of law, considered a trustee of an implied trust for the benefit of the person from whom the property comes. (Art. 1456.)

(8)    The ownership of improvements, whether for utility or adornment, made on the separate property of the spouses at the expense of the partnership or through the acts or efforts of either or both spouses shall pertain to the conjugal partnership, or to the original owner-spouse, subject to the following rules: x x x. (Art. 120, Family Code.)

TRADITION AS A MODE OF ACQUISITION

Tradition is a derivative mode of acquiring ownership and other real rights by virtue of which, there being intention and capacity on the part of the grantor and grantee and the pre-existence of said rights in the estate of the grantor, they are transmitted to the grantee through a just title. (3 Sanchez Roman 238)

REQUISITES:

1.       Pre-existence in the estate of the grantor of the right to be transmitted

2.       Just cause or title for the transmission

3.       Intention on the part of the grantor to grant and on the part of the grantee to acquire

4.       Capacity to transmit and to acquire

5.       An act which gives it outward form, physically, symbolically or legally

KINDS

A.      REAL TRADITION OR PHYSICAL DELIVERY

§  takes place when the thing is physically delivered or transferred from hand to hand if it is a movable, and if it is an immovable, by certain acts also material, performed by the grantee in the presence of and with the consent of the grantor which acts are generally called taking possession

B.      CONSTRUCTIVE TRADITION

§  when the delivery of the thing is not real or material but consists merely in certain facts indicative of the same

1.       Symbolical tradition

§  done through the delivery of signs or things which represent that which is being transmitted. Ex.: delivery of keys of the house

2.       Tradition by public instrument

§  consists in the substitution of real delivery of possession by a public writing with the delivery of a document which evidences the transaction

3.       Traditio longa manu

§  which is made by the grantor pointing out to the grantee the thing to be delivered which must be within his sight

4.       Tradition brevi manu

§  takes place when the grantee is already in possession of the thing under another title as when a lessee buys the thing leased to him

5.       Tradition constitutum possessorium

§  which is similar to tradition brevi manu but in the opposite sense and that is when the owner alienates a thing but remains in possession in another concept as a lessee or depositary

C.      QUASI TRADITION

§  delivery of incorporeal things or rights by the use by the grantee of his rights with the grantor’s consent

D.      TRADITION BY OPERATION OF LAW

§  delivery which is not included in the foregoing modes of delivery and where the delivery is effected solely by virtue of an express provision of law

REAL RIGHT V. PERSONAL RIGHT

A real right (jus in re) is the power of a person to obtain certain financial or economic advantages over a specific thing, a power enforceable against the whole world whether or not he possesses the thing. (3 Sanchez Roman 6)

A personal right (jus in personam) is the power belonging to a person to demand from another, as a definite passive subject-debtor, the fulfillment of a prestation to give, to do, or not to do. (3 Sanchez Roman 6)

REAL RIGHT	PERSONAL RIGHT
has a SPECIFIC object	affects all the PRESENT and FUTURE property of the debtor
there is one definite ACTIVE subject; the rest of the world is the indefinite PASSIVE subject.. HENCE, a real right follows its OBJECT in the hands of any POSSESSOR (binding on the whole world)	there is a definite ACTIVE subject; and a definite PASSIVE. HENCE, a personal right is enforceable only against the original debtor or a transferee who has NOTICE or KNOWLEDGE
the right is created directly over a thing	it is exercised thru another person, against whom an action may be brought
the right is OVER a thing	the right is TO a thing (thru another)
limited by the VALUE, USE, or PRODUCTIVITY of the thing	not so limited
created by both mode and title	created by title alone (except when the title is at the same time the mode, as in succession
subject matter is generally CORPOREAL	subject matter is intangible or incorporeal (for it is the fulfillment of the duty or prestation)
extinguished by LOSS or DESTRUCTION	not extinguished by LOSS or DESTRUCTION (the personal right survives at least as to the claim for damages)

 

CLASSIFICATION OF REAL RIGHTS IN THE CIVIL CODE

(a)    When there is full control and enjoyment (dominio pleno):

1.       Ownership

2.       possession

(b)   When there is partial control or enjoyment (dominio menos pleno or dominio limitado):

1.       Usufruct (Beneficial ownership)

2.       Naked ownership

3.       Easements

4.       Lease of real property if it exceeds 1 year, or if it is registered

(c)    Real rights of security or guaranty

1.       Mortgage

2.       Chattel mortgage

3.       Pledge

4.       Antichresis

5.       retention

(d)   Of acquisition

1.       Pre-emption

2.       Redemption

MODES OF EXTINGUISHING OWNERSHIP

(a)    Absolute extinguishment

1.       Physical loss or destruction

2.       Legal loss or destruction

(b)   Relative

1.       Law

2.       Succession

3.       Tradition

4.       Donation

5.       Abandonment

6.       Destruction of the proper title or right

7.       Prescription