Property

- object which is, or may be appropriated

- branch if civil law which classifies and defines the different kinds of appropriable objects, provides for their
acquisition and loss, and in general, treats of the nature and consequences of real rights.

Real rights
- rights that are attached to a thing as contrasted to personal rights which are attached to persons

Thing
- includes both appropriable and non-appropriable objects

CLASSIFICATION OF THINGS
a. res nullius (belonging to no one)
i. not yet been appropriated
ex. fish in the sea
ii. abandoned by the owner with the intention of no longer owning them
b. res communes (belonging to everyone)
i. their use and enjoyment are given to all of mankind
ex. Air we breathe, wind, sunlight, starlight
c. res alicujus (belonging to someone)
I. objects, tangible or intangible, which are owned privately, either in a collective or individual capacity
ex. Your book, your shares of stock, your parcel of land

CLASSIFICATION OF PROPERTY (MOAEMDCNW)

a. Mobility and Non-mobility
1. Movable or personal
2. Immovable or real property
b. Ownership
1. Public dominion or ownership
2. Private dominion or ownership
c. Alienability
1. Within the commerce of man
2. Outside the commerce of man
d. Existence
1. Present property
2. Future property (may not be the subject of donation)
e. Materiality or Immateriality
1. Tangible or corporeal (can be seen or touched)
2. Intangible or incorporeal (rights or credits)
f. Dependence or Importance
1. Principal
2. Accessory
g. Capability of Substitution
1. Fungible (capable of substitution by other things of same quality and quantity)
2. Non-fungible (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 Custody of the Court or Free
1. In custodia legis – seized by an officer under a writ of attachment or execution
2. Free Property
CHARACTERISTICS OF PROPERTY (SUI)
A. Susceptibility of appropriation
B. Utility for the satisfaction of moral or economic wants
C. Individuality or substantivity (can exist by itself and not merely as part of the whole, e.g. human hair)

Article 414. All things which are or may be the object of appropriation are considered either:
1. Immovable or real property; or
2. Movable or personal property.

Importance of the classification of Property into immovables and Movables

- Different provisions of the law govern the acquisition, possession, disposition, loss and registration of
immovables and movables
o Real property like land - donation must be in a public instrument
o Personal property like cars - donation needs only to be in a private instrument
- Ownership by prescription when in bad faith
o Real property – 30 years
o Personal property – 8 years
- To affect 3rd persons
o Real Property – must be recorded in the registry of property
o Personal Property – no registration necessary

Standard Oil Co. of New York v. Jaranillo (on the classification)

The parties to a contract may, by agreement, treat as personal property that which by nature would be real property.
However, the true reason why such an agreement would be valid between the parties is the application of estoppel.

Estoppel – the principle which precludes a person from asserting something contrary to what is implied by a
previous action or statement of that person or by a previous pertinent judicial determination.

Under the Civil Code, only the LAW may consider certain real property (like growing crops) as personal property (for the
purpose of making a chattel mortgage)

Reclassification – the act of specifying how agricultural lands shall be utilized for non-agricultural uses such as
residential, industrial, or commercial – as embodied in the land use plan, subject to the requirements and procedures
for land use conversion.

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

The human body is not property – it is a being. A human being cannot sell his body.
Organ Donation Act of 1991

Legacy – any individual, at least 18 years of age and of sound mind may give by way of legacy, to take effect after his/her
death, all or part of his/her body for any specified purpose.

Donation
No notice of contrary intentions by the decedent
No notice of opposition by a member of the immediate family of the decedent
All or part of the decedent’s body may be donated by the following:
1. Spouse
2. Son or daughter of legal age
3. Either parent
4. Brother or sister of legal age
5. Guardian over the person of the decedent at the time of his death

Interests – synonymous with “estate”

Estate – totality of interest which a person has from absolute ownership down to naked possession

Interest in land – legal concern of a person in the thing or property, or in the right