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