LTD: SECTION 14(3) – ACCESSION AND ACCRETION

 

SECTION 14(3) – ACCESSION AND ACCRETION

1.       ACCESSION

·         Refers to the right of an owner of a thing to its products as well as whatever is inseparably attached thereto as an accessory. The accessory follows the principal.

1.       ACCRESTION AND ALLUVION

DEFINITION:

(A)   ACCRETION

§  defined as the addition of portions of soil, by gradual deposition through the operation of natural causes, to that already in the possession of the owner. (Black’s Law)

§  Adopted from the Law Of The Waters which provided that the accretion resulting from the gradual deposit by or sedimentation from the waters belongs to the owners of the land bordering on streams, torrents, lakes, or rivers

§  accretion does not automatically become registered land. this is akin to the principle that an unregistered land purchased by the registered owner of the adjoining land does not, by extension, become ipso facto registered land

§  In the absence of evidence that the change in the course of the river was sudden or that it occurred through avulsion, the presumption is that the change was gradual and caused by accretion and erosion

(B)    ALLUVION

§  It refers to the accretion made by flow of rivers. A form of accession natura , which is provided for in Articles 457 and 461.

§  Alluvion must be the EXCLUSIVE WORK OF NATURE. There must be evidence to prove that the addition to the property was made gradually through the effects of the current of the river

§  where alluvial increment is not registered, it may be acquired by third persons through prescription

§  if alluvial property is not registered, the increment never became registered property, hence, not subject to the protection of imprescriptibility of registered property under the torrens system

REQUISITES OF ACCRETION (applies to lakes, creeks, and streams)

1.       That the deposit be gradual and imperceptible;

2.       That it be made through the effects of the current of the water;

§  The requirement that the deposit should be due to the effects of the current of the river is INDISPENSABLE

§  A riparian owner then doesn’t acquire the additions to his land caused by special works expressly intended or designed to bring about accretion

3.       That the land where the accretion takes place is adjacent to the banks of the river.

OWNERSHIP OF ABANDONED RIVER BEDS

o   River beds which are abandoned through the natural change in the course of waters ipso facto belongs to the owners whose lands are occupied by the new course in proportion to the area lost

o   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

REQUISITES FOR ART. 461 TO APPLY

1.       The change must be sudden;

2.       The changing of the course must be more or less permanent, and not temporary over flooding of another’s land;

3.       The change of the river must be a natural one, not by artificial means;

4.       There must be definite abandonment by the government;

§  Private persons cannot, by themselves, reclaim land from water bodies belonging to the State without proper permission from government authorities.

5.       The river must continue to exist, that is, it must not completely dry up or disappear.

ALLUVIAL FORMATION ALONG THE SEASHORE

·         Alluvial formation along the seashore form part of the public domain and therefore, not open to the acquisition by adverse possession by private persons

·         Outside the commerce of man, unless otherwise provided by either the executive or legislative branch of the government

·         The adjoining registered owner of the foreshore land cannot claim ownership by right of accretion

·         The state shall only grant these lands to the adjoining owners only when they are no longer needed for the purposes mentioned therein

·         Ignacio v. Director of Lands: a bay is part of the sea, being a mere indention of the same