Property - Discussion Guide

Property - Discussion Guide for Students
Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson
I. INTRODUCTION
A. What is Property?
1. In general term: 8
2. Property is a system of managing resources 8
3. Libertarians, Progressives, and Efficiency Theorist view of property 8
4. Lawyer’s view of property: 9
B. Purpose of Property
1. Issues and Concern 10
C. Theories of Property
1. First Possession 10
2. Labor Theory 11
3. Utilitarian / Economic Theory 11
4. Democracy 12
5. Personhood 13
D. Legal Theories on Property
1. Natural Theory 13
2. Legal Positivism 13
3. Property as Law of Things 14
4. Right to Exclude 15
5. Bundle of Rights 16
E. Property under the Civil Code
1. Part of Civil Law 17
2. Rights Over Things 17
3. Kinds of Property 17
a) As to Ownership 17
b) As to Physical Characteristics 18
II. OWNERSHIP
A. In General
1. Definition 20
a) In its strict sense 20
b) Exercise of Rights of Ownership under Art. 427 of the Civil Code20
c) Meaning of Title 21
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B. Incidents of Ownership
1. Right to Exclude
a) Right to Exclude under the Civil Code (Art. 429, NCC) 21
b) Right of Enclosure and Fences (Art. 430) 21
c) Self-Help 21
d) Exception 21
e) Resort to judicial process if possession is loss 21
2. Right to Use 21
a) General Statement under Art. 428 of the Civil Code 21
b) Exceptions: 21
c) 1987 Constitution, Article XII, National Economy and Patrimony22
(1) Use of Property Has a Social Function 22
(2) Distributive Justice 22
3. Right to Transfer 22
4. Right to Vindicate 22
5. The law favour actual possessors (Article 433 of the Civil Code) 23
III. Possession
A. In General
1. Definitions
a) Possession in General 23
b) Actual Possession 23
c) Acquisitive Prescription 23
d) Adverse Possession 23
e) Bonafide Possession 23
f) Constructive Possession 23
g) Exclusive Possession 23
h) Hostile Possession 23
i) Notorious Possession 24
j) Prescription 24
k) Peaceable Possession 24
2. How is Possession Exercise
B. Acquisition of Possession
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1. How possession is acquired (Art. 531) 24

2. Who can acquire possession 24
C. Loss of Possession
1. General Rule (Art. 554) 25
2. Presumptions 25
D. Effects of Possession
E. Adverse Possession
1. Concept 26
2. Rule upon Recovery of Possession by the Lawful Possessor 26
a) Possession in Good Faith 26
(1) Definition 26
(2) Effects of Possession in Good Faith 26
(a) On the Fruits 26
(b) Refund 26
(c) Removal 26
(d) Liability 26
b) Possession in Bad Faith 27
(1) Definition 27
(2) Effects of Possession in Bad Faith 27
(a) On the Fruits 27
(b) Refund 27
(c) Liability 27
3. Acquisitive and Extinctive Prescription 27
a) Adverse Possession 27
b) Prescription 27
c) Kinds of Acquisitive Prescription 27
d) Period of possession required 28
(1) Ordinary Prescription 28
(2) Extra-ordinary Prescription 28
e) Rule on Prescriptions 28
(1) Rule on Computing time (Art. 1138, NCC) 28
IV. Accession
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A. General rule:
B. Types of Accession
C. Accession in Immovable Property
1. General rule 29
2. Rule on Builder, Planter and Sower on Lands of Another 30
3. Rule on Persons Providing Materials to Owners 30
D. Rules on Accession in Movable Property
1. General Rule 30
2. Definition of Principal 30
3. Rule on Separation 31
4. Rule on Acquisition if there is Bad Faith (Art. 470, NCC) 31
5. Rule on owners of materials 31
6. Rules on Third Persons 31
V. Co-Ownership
A. Definition
B. General Rule
C. On Right to Use
D. On Right to Exclude
E. On Right to Transfer
F. On Right to Vindicate
G. On Right to Partition
H. Effect of Partition to Third Persons (Art. 499)
I. Warranty
J. Obligations of Co-Owners
K. Renunciation of Shares
L. Special rules on co-ownership of buildings with different Stories
VI. Trespass, Interference, Nuisance and The Right to Vindicate
A. Distinguish Trespass from Nuisance
B. Trespass
1. Concept 33
2. Cause of Action 34
3. Remedies in Trespass in Real Properties 34
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4. In Personal Property 36
C. Nuisance and Interference to Property Rights
1. Concept 37
2. Under the Civil Code: 38
3. Nuisance according to the object or objects that it affects (Art. 695, NCC)
- Public and Private Nuisance (Art. 695, NCC) 38
4. Nature 38
5. Easement against nuisance 38
6. Remedies 39
D. Torts and Damages 39
E. Quieting of Title 40
VII. LIMITATIONS OF OWNERSHIP
A. Injurious Use
1. General Rule 41
2. On Ruinous Buildings and Trees in Danger of Falling 41
B. Easements and Servitudes in General
1. Definitions 41
2. Kinds of Easements 41
3. Modes of Acquiring Easements 42
4. Rights and Obligations (Article 627-630) 42
5. Extinguishment of Easements 42
6. Special Law: Presidential Decree No. 1096 (National Building Code of the
Philippines) 43
7. Easement of Right of Way 43
8. Easement of Party Wall 44
9. Easement of Light and View 44
10. Easement of Drainage of Buildings (Arts. 674-676) 46
11. Easement on Distances (Articles 677-681) 47
12. Easement on Nuisance (Arts. 682-683) 48
13. Easement of Lateral and Subjacent support (Arts. 684-687) 48
14. Easement relating to waters 49
C. Private Ownership vs. The State
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1. Police Power 51
2. Eminent Domain 54
3. Taxation 54
VIII.Original Modes of Acquiring Ownership (Original Creation of
Property)
A. Occupation
1. Definition 55
2. Conditions: 55
3. Special Rules: 55
4. Republic Act No. 9147 (Wildlife Resources Conservation Act and
Protections Act) 56
5. Roman Law Concepts: 56
B. Intellectual Creation
1. General Principles: 57
2. Copyright 57
a) Objective 57
b) As Incentive to creators 57
c) What is being protected 57
d) Copyright Infringement 58
3. Patent 58
a) Objective 58
b) Utilitarian Mandate 58
c) What can be patented 58
d) Elements 58
e) Patents Infringement 58
4. Trademarks 58
a) Objective 58
b) Trademark Infringement 59
IX. Derivative Mode of Acquiring Ownership (Transfers of Rights)
X. Donation
A. Defintion
B. Kinds
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1. Simple Donation 59
2. Remuneratory 60
3. Conditional 60
4. Onerous Donation 60
C. Essential Elements of Donation 61
D. Capacity 61
1. Who may give donations or receive donations 61
2. Who may accept donations 61
3. Void Donations 61
4. Formalities 62
5. Effects of Donations and Limitations 62
6. Revocation and Reduction of Donations 62
XI. USUFRUCT
A. Definition:
B. Rights and Obligation of the Owner
C. Rights of Usufructuary
D. Obligation of the Usufructuary
E. Extinguishment of Usufruct
Readings and Cases:
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I. INTRODUCTION
A. What is Property?
1. In general term:
• Property in the broadest sense is a set of claims that people have in
resources that correspond to duties of respect in others. Property delineates
the rights people have to control and derive value from resources in the
world. Property is a general term for the rules that govern people's access
to and control of things like land, natural resources, the means of
production, manufactured goods, including texts, ideas, inventions, and
other intellectual products.
• For most people, property means the things we own.
2. Property is a system of managing resources

• Capitalism
• Preeminence of private ownership;
• Citizens have private property;
• Market forces decides what is best to do with resources;
• Market economy.
• Communism/Socialism
• Preeminence of state ownership;
• Citizens have limited property, the state owned most of the resources
(Super Regalian Doctrine)
• The state decides what is best to do with resources;
• Planned economy
• Tragedy of the Commons1
• A situation where there is no property rights; what there is there is a
shared resource system (common ownership) where individual users
acting independently according to their own self-interest behave contrary
to the common good of all users by depleting that resource through their
collective action.
3. Libertarians, Progressives, and Efficiency Theorist view of property

• Property presents us with a complex coordination problem. We need to
manage the complexity of human interactions. Because property concerns
scarce resources and be cause people want to use resources for their
various purposes, we need a way to allocate posers over those resources,
especially use rights. When resources are scarce, creating rules about
property use is beneficial; however, such rules are also costly to create,
define, and enforce. Smith argues that the focus of property law is to
1Garret Hardin, Tragedy of the Commons, 162 Science 1243 (1968)

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minimize the cost of information we need to figure out who gets to do what
with what thing.2
• Property as Exclusion Strategy - creates an architecture for the entire
property system. Property rights are not merely impediments to resources
ending up in the hands of those who value them most; they are one of the
basic tools that allow markets to exist in the first place. They are inherently
valuable because they enable people to act, invest, to plan, and to exchange
goods and services. They establish bargaining power that protects
individuals form being force to comply with the will of others, they are
significant part of what makes free market “free”.
• Property is a system and not just an individual entitlement. Property rights
and externalities are born together. The assignment of rights to one person
necessary affect others by exclusion. Thus, they must be regulated.
• Focus on the basic structure of the property system. Property is the
foundation upon which markets rest. Property precedes liberty because we
cannot decide how to live if we are not given the general power to choose
how to use things we own. Property precedes efficiency because initial
distribution of of property is required before exchange is possible (best use).
• Property comes in modules that enable us to know what we own and what
we can do with it. It gives us valuable information, free us from unwarranted
restrictions and promote both freedom and efficiency. They allow us to take
things for granted. Property law places distinct limits on our freedom to
disaggregate property rights.
4. Lawyer’s view of property:

• Property is an entitlement to resources protected by legal institutions
• Lawyers, however, understand property as legal relations among persons
with respect to things. Some scholars deem property to be a natural right
while others view it as a delegation of covering poser or as a package of
legal entitlement.3 (Citing Prof. Henry Smith [traditional legal doctrines] and
Prof. Wesley Hohfeld [bundle of rights]. Prof. Smith - conceptualized
property as a framework for “interaction of persons in society” as well as the
foundation and infrastructure of private law. 4
• Property laws delineate the rights people have to control and derive value
from resources in the world. Property laws tell us what is mine and what is
not mine. Without rules about this, the world will be a chaotic and probable
quite violent place to live in.
• The concept of property is reserved for a legally protected entitlement. A
thing is not property in the legal sense unless its holder could vindicate his/
her rights in the court of laws.
2See Thomas W. Merril & Henry E. Smith, What Happened to Property in Law and Economics?
111 YALE L. J. 357, 380 (2001)
3 Joseph W. Singer, Property as the Law of Democracy, 63 Duke L. J. 1287 (2014)
4 Property as the Law of Things, 125 HARV. L. REV. 1691 (2012)
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• Property as an institution embraces these many forms and different

societies have various mixtures of them.
B. Purpose of Property 5
• Institution of property provides for an effective way of managing society’s resources.
- Decentralisation in the management of resources and permits owners-managers
to specialise in developing the knowledge and skill pertinent to their particular
resources.
• Provides a powerful set of incentives for person to make investments in and engage
in effective management of resources they control. Reaping what you sow.
• Facilitates the making of contracts regarding the use and control of resources. -
Exchange of property rights, we know who use and control the resources.
• It is a source of individual autonomy - private individuals controls the direction of
their lives because they have the means; critical to personal identify or to the
development of individual personality
• It is important to the preservation of liberty and a source of countervailing power to
the power of the State. With private property, individuals can organized oppositions,
if the government controls all the resources, autocracy.
1. Issues and Concern

• Division of the world into separate parcels of lands and discrete object of
personal property, each with its individual owners. i.e. effects of externalities
to other property owners
• Monopoly - confers monopoly of control on someone with respect to a
particular resources that was awarded to him/her.
• Commodification of values and social relations. The more we extend the
sphere of of property, the more we think about the world in terms of owner-
object relation.
• It promotes inequality. Allows property owners to exclude others from using
and enjoying resources that he/she owns.
C. Theories of Property
• All five theories help form the foundation of property law.
• No one theory is accepted as the only justification for property
1. First Possession
• Rules of first possession are the regulation of a competitive process of
acquiring unowned resources.
• It is the allocation of property rights to the first possessor.
• Intended to reduced conflict and unnecessary competition;
• Much less wasteful of resources if a clear winner emerges early on in the
process of appropriation;
5 Thomas W. Merril and Henry E. Smith, The Oxford Introduction to U.S. Law: Property, Oxford
University Press, 2010
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• Notice to others that a claim is being asserted is important for #2; the lack
of notice might lead others to compete with the original hunter;
• The end result of first possession is private property
• Rule on Discovery - the thing is awarded to those who first made a claim
on the resources
2. Labor Theory
• John Locke resigned the each person is entitled to the property produced
through his own labor. Locked argued that when a person mixed his own
labor with natural resources which are unowned, he acquired property rights
in the mixture. Before labor was added, the thing had no value, once labor is
mixed, the thing becomes private property.
• More applicable in areas where there is no established ownership, i.e. U.S.
3. Utilitarian / Economic Theory

• Maximise Societal Happiness
• We recognized property in order to maximise the overall happiness of
society; to best promote the welfare of all citizens. (Jeremy Bentham)
• Law and Economics Approach
• An efficient method of allocating valuable resources in order to maximise
one particular face of social happiness, wealth, and measured in
currency. Property exists to ensure that owners use resources in an
efficient manner - that is, in a manner which maximises economic valued
defined as a person’s willingness to pay.
• Basic Features of Property System
• In order for an economy to reach its full potential, there are three (3) basic
features which its system of property rights must have 6 :
• Universality - all valuable, scarce resources must be owned by
someone. An economy where certain resources cannot be use by
someone would be smaller than the same economy where this resources
could be used.
• Exclusivity - If an owner is unable to exclude others from the use and
enjoyment of the property, then the owner has no incentive to improve the
property.
• Transferability - The more efficient person should be allowed to acquire
the property of the less efficient one for mutual benefit. The right to
transfer is vital for efficiency in our market economy because it helps
ensure that property is devoted to its most valuable use. What is the
extent of the restrictions
• Harold Demsetz Theory of Property Rights 7
6 Howard Gensler, Property Law as an Optimal Economic Foundation, 35 Washburn L.J. 50, 51-52
(1995)
7 Harold Demsetz, Toward a Theory of Property Rights, 57 AM. ECON. REV. PAPERS & PROC.
347 (1967)
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• Property is an institution for “internalizing externalities” associated with

the use of scarce resources. An externality is some benefit or cost
generated by one person’s activity that is involuntarily bored by some
other person.
• The Demsetz theory posits that another way of internalizing externalities
associated with the use of resources is by establishing property rights in
the resources. Property rights, as Demsetz understood them, are rights to
exclude others from specific things or resources. By creating such
exclusion rights and converting them on an identified owner, man of the
benefits and costs associated with the use of the resource - which
otherwise would be experienced as externalities by the others - will
instead be borne by the owner. By giving the owner exclusive control over
the resource, decisions that affect the value of the resource in a positive
or negative direction will be captured by the owner.
• The owner thus has a powerful incentive to take these benefits and costs
into account in deciding how to use the resource.
• Setting Up of Institutions to Protect Property Rights
• It is necessary to define resources subject to ownership, specify how
owners are identified, set up institutions to resolve disputes over
ownership, and devise mechanisms for enforcing ownership rights.
• If the costs of establishing and enforcing property rights exceed the
benefits of internalisation from establishing and enforcing property
rights, resources will remain in the unowned (open-access) state.
Thus, for a thing to be governed by property regime, the following
should be present:
• There must be enough demand for the resource relative to its
supply that internalization of externalities associated with use of
the resource will produce significant benefit.
• If something is regarded as having no value, or negative value, it is
also unlikely tat the thing will be treated as property.
• Property in a given class of resource is unlikely to exist if there are
“high costs of establishing and enforcing” such right. Some assists
are easier to delineate and enforce as property than other assets.
4. Democracy
• In a state in which private property does not exist, citizens are dependent on
the good will of the government. They come to the state as beggars rather
than right holders.
• Any challenge to the state may be stifled or driven underground by virtue of
the fact that serous haleness could result i the withdrawal of the goods that
give people basic security.
• A right to private property, free from government interference, is in this
sense a necessary basis for a democracy.8
8 Cass R. Sunstein, On Property and Constitutionalism, 14 Cardozo L. Rev. 907 (1993)

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5. Personhood
• Georg Hegel - argues that property is necessary for an individual’s personal
development. Each person has a close emotional connection to certain
tangible things, which virtually become part of one’s self.
• Margaret Jane Radin - the gauge of the strength or significance of
someone’s relationship with an object by the kind of pain that should be
occasioned by its loss; pain that cannot be relieved by a simple object’s
replacement; because of this connection to the property, the owner should
be accorded a broad liberty with respect to control of that thing.
• All things equal, a right to personhood priority should be given priority over a
conflicting claim by the owner of non-personhood property. 9
D. Legal Theories on Property

1. Natural Theory
• A philosophical system of legal and moral principles purportedly deriving
from a universalised conception of human nature or divine justice rather
than from legislative or judicial action; moral law, embodied in the principles
of right and wrong.
• Thomas Aquinas concludes that, given certain detailed provision:
• it is natural for man to possess external things
• it is lawful for a man to possess a thing as his own
• the essence of theft consists in taking another's thing secretly
• theft and robbery are sins of different species, and robbery is a more
grievous sin than theft
• theft is a sin; it is also a mortal sin
• it is, however, lawful to steal through stress of need: "in cases of need all
things are common property."
2. Legal Positivism
• The theory that legal rules are valid only be cause they are enacted by
existing political authority or accepted as binding in a given society not
because they are grounded in morality or in natural law. Property rights are
thus defined by the State
• Property laws delineate the rights people have to control and derive value
from resources in the world. For legal scholars, we use property to refer to
entitlements to resources protected by formal legal institutions. 10
• Property laws tell us what is mine and what is not mine. It is reserved for
a legally protected entitlement.
• A thing is not property in the legal sense unless its holder could vindicate
his/her rights in the court of laws.
9 Margaret Jane Radin, Property and and Personhood, 34 Stan. L. Rev. 957 (1982)
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• Property is closely related to rule of law.

• Property rights are not absolute - Much of property law is devoted to
reconciling disputes between different owners or between an owner and the
community.
• Property rights evolve as law changes - A core value of our property
system is stability of title - the concept that property rights should be certain
and predictable. But the nature and scope of property do evolve slowly over
time, as chasing economic, technological and social conditions gradually
reshape the law. i.e. traditional notion that a land owner held title to all the
airspace above her land - the invention of airplane ended the traditional
notion. Property as Law of Things - In Rem
• The Latin expression for this is that property rights are IN REM, which
comes from the word res or things, and indicated that property rights
pertains directly to things rather than to people. It is universally binding on
all who encounter the object.
• In Rem proceedings - the power/jurisdiction of the court over a thing. This
allows a person to place some things under the authority of the court, which
will, after providing to all indented claimants the requisite notice and
opportunity to be heard, make a definitive adjudication of who owns the
thing.
• In rem rights bind the world, not just the particular pair of parties. Property in
the broadest sense is a set of claims that people have in resources that
correspond to duties of respect in others generally.
• Distinguished from In Personam
• In Contracts for instance, rights are created by particular agreements
between particular persons which creates obligations binding on these
persons with respect to each other and no one else. These are personal
rights that are binding only on the parties to the contracts.
3. Property as Law of Things

• The Latin expression for this is that property rights are “in rem”, which
comes from the word res or things, and indicated that property rights
pertains directly to things rather than to people. It is universally binding on
all who encounter the object.
• Property as Notice - Property law comes in a standard set of forms and
serves as notice to everyone, depending on the physical nature and
character, and location of the property on how to behave. The in rem aspect
of property gives information to large and indefinite audience on how to
interact with each other with regard to the thing.
• Property needs to be general, stable, and give proper notice on the widest
possible audience. Achieving generality, stability, and notice requires
managing information: facilitating coordination on this scale requires
simplicity and a degree of formalism precisely because the audience is in
rem.11
11Henry E. Smith, The Language of Property: Form, Context, and Audience, 55 STAN. L. REV.
1105, 1148–57 (2003).
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• Property Rights - bind the world, not just a particular pair of parties.
Property in the broadest sense is a set of claims that people have in
resources that correspond to duties of respect in others. It is “in rem”
because the right attaches to the object, rather than to particular people,
it is universally binding on all who encounter the object.
• The Duty to Keep Off - The other side of the owner’s right to exclude,
use and transfer properties, it is the duty of the other members of society
to keep off, to respect such rights, unless the owner has given permission
to enter or use the thing. Property in the broadest sense is a set of claims
that people have in resources that correspond to duties of respect in
others generally.
• Distinguished from “in personam" - In Contracts for instance, rights
are created by particular agreements between particular persons which
creates obligations binding on these persons with respect to each other
and no one else. These are personal rights and are binding only on the
parties to the contracts. Personal rights do not exit automatically as a
matter of law. They are only created when persons engage in certain acts
that creates obligations specified by the contract and binding only on
parties to the contract.
• In rem proceeding and the jurisdiction of the court over a thing. In
rem proceeding allows a person to place some things under the authority
of the court, which will, after providing to all interested claimants the
required notice and opportunity to be heard, make a definitive
adjudication of who owns the thing.
4. Right to Exclude
• William Blackstone12 - “the sole and despotic dominion which one man
claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in total exclusion
of the right of any other individual in the universe.”
• Arguably one of the most significant and essential elements in defining our
understanding of what constitutes property. Historically, the right to exclude
concerns the relationship between people with respect to things, “such that
the so-called owner can exclude others from certain activities or permit
others to engage in those activities and in either case secure assistance of
the law in carrying out this decision.” But, from a present-day perspective,
the right has evolved beyond the legal constructs of traditional property law
to also encompass legal entitlements and benefits possessed by one person
over another irrespective of the legal relationship between such person and
the thing in which the right is claimed.
• Primacy of the Right to Exclude13
• Give someone the right to exclude others from a valued resource and you
give them property. Deny someone the exclusion right and they do not
have property.
12 William Blackstone, Commentary on the Laws of England

13 Thomas W. Merrill, Property and the Right to Exclude, 77 Neb. L. Rev. (1998)
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• If one starts with the right to exclude, it is possible to derive most of the
other attributes commonly associated with property through the addition
of relatively minor clarifications about the domain of the exclusion right.
On the other hand, if one starts with any other attribute of property, one
cannot derive the right to exclude by extending the domain of that other
attribute; rather, one must add the right to exclude as an additional
premise.
• The right to use is an important attribute of property closely associated
with the right to exclude. At its core, the gatekeeper right is the right to
determine the use of resources, by exercising the power of exclusion and
inclusion. But the right to exclude cannot be derived from the right to use.
• To determine whether or not someone who has the right to transfer
resources also has a general right to exclude others from the resources,
we need to know additional information about the scope of their powers,
specifically, whether they are owners. The right to transfer, by itself,
cannot lead us to this further information about which incidents of
property the transferor enjoys.
• Exception to the Right to Exclude
• Necessity
• Custom
• Public Accommodation Laws
• Anti-discriminatory Laws
5. Bundle of Rights
• Property as Bundle of Rights
• This school of thought denies the existence of any essential core tot he
concept of property. Rather, property is jest a word denoting a bundle of
rights or more metaphorically, a bundle of stick - in which each individual
stick (whether it be a right or privilege) can be added or removed without
necessarily changing the characterization of the bundle as property.
• The Legal Realist movement that started in the 1920 advance this
alternative view in order to debunk the notion of property as a natural high
protected by the Constitution against fundamental reform.
• Trinity of Rights - to exclude, to use and to transfer defines the core
property.
• The law shifted from giving the owner dictatorial control over who and
what to exclude or include, and instead seeks to prescribe rules about
permissible and impermissible uses that constrain all relevantly situated
owners. Exclusion shoes off into governance.
• Perspective and Analysis14 - “At least since Blackstone, property rights
discourses has been plagued by absolutism, the notion that the right of
property should be defined as the “sole and despotic dominion” over the res,
to the “total exclusion of the right of any other individual in the universe.”
14 Sparkling and Coletta, Property - A Contemporary Approach, 2nd Edition, West (2012), p. 65-66
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Property professors and courts generally refer to the collection of rights that
private property owners enjoy vis-a-vis other landowners and the public as a
“bundle of sticks” in an attempt to render rather abstract concepts more
concrete. The prevailing metaphor, however, lends itself to a formalistic,
absolutist conception of these interests, implying that the stick, such as the
right to devise or the right to convey, are things… therefore the composition
of the bundle must be an immutable and essential state of affairs. In contrast,
many scholars insist that property rights are neither static nor absolute. The
recognition of private property interest involves tradeoffs with community
values and egalitarian goals; therefore the exact composition of the bundle of
sticks must be recognized as a mediation between these interests. Moreover,
the palace struck is always tentative, subject to constant re-evaluation in the
light of current needs and norms.
• Countryside and Rights of Way Act (England and Wales) - Many
landowners in the United Kingdom have, in the past, strongly defended their
property rights. Even uncultivated and unenclosed land was formerly heavily
protected in some areas, mostly to preserve the land owner's hunting or
fishing rights. This in turn left the general public with little access to natural
areas. The Act implements the so-called "right to roam" (also known as jus
spatiandi) long sought by the Ramblers' Association and its predecessors, on
certain upland and uncultivated areas of England and Wales. The act refers
to areas of “mountain, moor, heath and down” in addition to registered
common land; not all uncultivated land is covered. The Ramblers'
Association works to increase the rights of walkers in the United Kingdom
and has been a driving force behind the recent legislation increasing the
public's access to the wilderness.
E. Property under the Civil Code

1. Part of Civil Law
• Family law; Contracts and obligations; Property Law; Succession, estate,
probate, and testamentary laws; Agency; Law of Torts
2. Rights Over Things

a) Things and Property Distinguish
b) Rights as Property
(1) Real Rights
(2) Personal Rights
(3) Distinctions
3. Kinds of Property
a) As to Ownership
(1) Common/Res Nullious
(2) Public Dominion
(a) Property intended for public use (Art. 420, par. 1, NCC)
(b) Property for public service (Art. 420, par. 2, NCC)
Page 17 of 70
(c) Property for the development of national wealth (Art. 420, par. 2,
NCC)
(d) Patrimonial property (Article 421, NCC)
(3) Private Property
(a) All properties belonging to private persons either individually or
collectively (Art. 425, NCC)
i) Sole ownership
ii) Co-ownership (Simple, Partnerships, Corporations, and other
forms of multiple ownership)
b) As to Physical Characteristics
(1) Immovable Property (Real Property)
(a) Enumeration of Immovable Property (Art. 415, NCC)
(b) Classes of Immovable Property
i) Immovable by nature - paragraphs 1 and 8
ii) Immovable by incorporation - paragraphs 2,3,4, and 6
iii) Immovable by destination - paragraphs 4,5,6,7 and 9
iv) Immovable by analogy or by law - paragraph 10
(c) Extent of Ownership (Art. 437, NCC)
i) Includes the surface and everything under it and he can construct
thereon any works or make any plantations and exceptions which
he may deem proper, without detriment to servitudes and subject
to special laws and ordinances. He cannot complain of the
reasonable requirement of aerial navigation.
ii) Minerals are not included; Article XII of the Constitution
iii) Republic Act No. 7942 (Philippine Mining Act of 1991)
(1) Section 76. Entry into Private Lands and Concession Areas. -
Subject to prior notification, holders of mining rights shall not
be prevented from entry into private lands and concession
areas by surface owners, occupants, or concessionaires when
conduction mining operations therein: provided, that any
damage done to the property of the surface owner, occupant,
or concessionaire as a consequence of such operations shall
be properly compensated as may be provided for in the
implementing rules and regulations: provided further, that to
guarantee such compensation, the person authorized to
conduct mining operation shall, prior thereto, post a bond with
the regional director used on the the of properties, the
prevailing rices in and around the area where the mining
operations are to be conducted, with surety or sureties
satisfactory to the regional director.
iv) Commonwealth Act No. 141 (Public Land Act)
Page 18 of 70
(1) Section 110. Patents or certificates issued under the provision

of this Act shall not include nor convey the title to any gold,
silver, copper, iron, or other metals or minerals or other
substances containing minerals, guano, gum, precious stones,
coal, or coal oil contained in lands granted thereunder. These
shall remain to be property of the State.
(2) The prohibition applies also to lease of public lands under
Section 41. The lease of agricultural lands may be cancelled
after notice if the said lands is more valuable for mineral
extraction.
(d) Hidden Treasures (Art. 438/439, NCC)
i) Hidden and unknown deposit of money, jewelry or other precious
objects (Personal Property) the lawful ownership of which does
not appear (Art. 439, NCC)
ii) Belongs to the owner of the land/building (Principle of Accession)
iii) If by chance 1/2 belongs to the finder but not when he is a
trespasser
iv) The State ay acquire hidden treasure at their just price; Ground:
Science/Art
(2) Movable Property (Personal Property)
(a) Enumeration under Art. 416 and 417, NCC
(b) Consumables or Non-Consumables under Art. 418, NCC
(c) Fungible or Non-Fungible
(3) Importance of Distinguishing Movable from Immovable
(a) Ownership Rights
i) Statute of Limitations
ii) Registration of ownership and interest in Property Registries
(b) Taxation
i) Real property Taxation
ii) Taxation of Certain Movable Property
Page 19 of 70
II. OWNERSHIP
• The delineation of ownership is as old as human written records.
• Ownership is a Biblical Concept: The Mosaic laws as described in the Ten
Commandments or the laws on takings in Exodus 22:1-15, as well as the host of
other Levitical laws throughout the first five books of the Old Testament, are all
attempts to legally define ownership.
• From the Hammurabi code to the English common law the notion of legal
ownership, or legal rights, to property is well defined.
• In the words of Blackstone (English Jurist): “The third absolute right; inherent in
every Englishman, is that of property: which consists in the free use, enjoyment
and disposal of all his acquisitions, without any control or diminution, save only
by the laws of the land”.
A. In General
• Ownership signifies that dominion or indefinite right of use, control and
disposition (constituent elements) which one may lawfully exercise over
particular things or objects.
• The delineation of ownership is as old as human written records.
• Ownership is a Biblical Concept: The Mosaic laws as described in the Ten
Commandments or the laws on takings in Exodus 22:1-15, as well as the host of
other Levitical laws throughout the first five books of the Old Testament, are all
attempts to legally define ownership.
• From the Hammurabi code to the English common law the notion of legal
ownership, or legal rights, to property is well defined.
• In the words of William Blackstone (English Jurist): “The third absolute right;
inherent in every Englishman, is that of property: which consists in the free use,
enjoyment and disposal of all his acquisitions, without any control or diminution,
save only by the laws of the land”.
1. Definition
a) In its strict sense

(1) Property signifies that dominion or indefinite right of user, control and
disposition which one may lawfully exercise over particular things or
objects (63 Am Jur 2d).
(2) Property is composed of certain constituent elements, namely, the
unrestricted right of use, enjoyment and disposal of the particular subject
of property.
b) Exercise of Rights of Ownership under Art. 427 of the Civil Code

(1) Over Things
(2) Over Rights
Page 20 of 70
c) Meaning of Title
(1) Refers to that which is the subject of ownership, and is that which is the
foundation of ownership.
(2) It is the evidence of a person’s right or of the extent of his interest; the
means whereby the owner is enable to maintain or assert his possession
and enjoyment.
(3) Colour of title is that which gives a semblance or appearance of title, but
is not the title in fact. It is anything which shows the extent of the
occupant’s claim
B. Incidents of Ownership
1. Right to Exclude
a) Right to Exclude under the Civil Code (Art. 429, NCC)
• The owner or lawful possessor of a thing has the right to exclude any
person from the enjoyment and disposal of the thing.
b) Right of Enclosure and Fences (Art. 430)

• Subject to servitudes and easements
c) Self-Help
d) Exception
• Lawful Interference in cases of acts of necessities Art. 432, NCC
• Compensate affected owner for damages
e) Resort to judicial process if possession is loss

• Article 428 (Par. 2) - The owner has a right of action against the holder
and possessor of the ting in order to recover it.
• Article 433. Actual possession under a claim of ownership raises a
disputable presumption of ownership. Th true owner must resort to
judicial process in order to recover it.
2. Right to Use
a) General Statement under Art. 428 of the Civil Code

(1) Par. (1) The owner has the right to enjoy things without other limitations
b) Exceptions:
• Limitation by law
• Injurious Use - The owner of the thing cannot make use it in such a
manner as to injure the rights of a third person (Article 431, NCC)
• An owner may put his property to any use not unlawful, however absolute
and unqualified may be his title, an owner holds the property under the
implied liablitiy that his use of it shall not be injurious to the equal
enjoyment of others having an equal right to the enjoyment of their
Page 21 of 70
property of others nor injurious to the rights of the community. a claim of

restrictions and limitation in the use of such property must be clearly and
indubitable established
• Governmental control and regulate properties to secure the general
safety, the public welfare and the peace, good order and morals of the
community. This does not confer power to control rights which are purely
and exclusively private, but it does authorise
• The establishment of laws requiring each citizen so to conduct himself
and use his own property as not unnecessarily to injure another. The
state may provide regulations as to the acquisition, enjoyment and
disposition of property and may even take private property for a public
purpose, subject to the right of the individual to just compensation.
• Property is subject to certain burdens which it must bear in common with
other property of a like kind.
c) 1987 Constitution, Article XII, National Economy and Patrimony
(1) Use of Property Has a Social Function

• The use of property bears a social function, and all economic agents
shall contribute to the common good. Individuals and private groups,
including corporations, cooperatives and similar collected
organisations, shall have the right to own, establish and operate
economic enterprises
(2) Distributive Justice

• The use of property is subject to the duty of the state to promote
distributive justice and can State intervene when the common good so
demands.
3. Right to Transfer
a) It includes the right of alienation or disposition in any lawful manner which
the owner deems fit
b) Must comply with the mode appropriate appropriate to the kind of property in
order to be effectual.
c) Art. 428 of the Civil Code
• The owner has the right to dispose property subject to limitations
established by law
d) Kinds of Transfers
(1) Assignment of ownership
(2) Assignment of use only
4. Right to Vindicate
a) Includes the right to protect and defend such possession against the
intrusion or trespass of others which may include self-help; and
b) Right to judicial relief
Page 22 of 70
c) Presumptions
5. The law favour actual possessors (Article 433 of the Civil Code)
III. Possession
A. In General
1. Definitions
a) Possession in General
• Possession is the holding of a thing or the enjoyment of a right (Art. 523).
Only things and rights which are susceptible of being appropriated may
be the object of possession (Art. 430)
• Possession is the fact of having or holding property in one’s power; the
exercise of dominion over property; the right under which on may
exercise control over something to the exclusion of all others;
• Any of the usual outward marks of ownership may suffice as possession
in the absence of manifest power in someone else.
b) Actual Possession
• Physical occupancy or control over property
c) Acquisitive Prescription
• The acquisition of a title to a thing by open, continues, exclusive,
notorious and hostile possession over a statutory period.
d) Adverse Possession
• The enjoyment of property with a claim of right when the enjoyment is
opposed to another person’s claim and is continuous, exclusive, hostile,
open and notorious.
e) Bonafide Possession
• Possession of property by a person who in good faith does not know that
the property’s ownership is disputed.
f) Constructive Possession
• Control or dominion over a property without actual possession or custody
of it. Thus, when a possessor holds title to a property and physically
possesses part of it, the law will deem the possessor hold constructive
possession of the rest of the property described in the title.
g) Exclusive Possession
• The exercise of exclusive dominion over property including the use and
benefit of the property.
h) Hostile Possession
Page 23 of 70
• Possession asserted against the claims of all others especially the true or
record owner
i) Notorious Possession
• Possession or control that is evident to others;
• Possession of property that, because it is generally known by people in
the area where the property is located, gives rise to a presumption that
the actual owner has notice of it.
j) Prescription
• The extinction of a title or right by failure to claim or exercise it over a long
period of time.
k) Peaceable Possession
• Possession not disturbed by another’s hostile or legal attempts to recover
possession especially wrongful possession that the rightful possessor has
appeared to tolerate.
2. How is Possession Exercise

a) Possession can be exercise in one’s own name or in that of another (Art.
524)
b) Possession of a thing as an owner
c) Possession of a thing by reason of a right to hold, keep or enjoy without
being an owner; See Art. 559
B. Acquisition of Possession
1. How possession is acquired (Art. 531)
a) Material Occupation
b) Exercise of a Right
c) Control over thing/right that are subject to the action of our will (Art. 560)
2. Who can acquire possession

a) By the same person who is to enjoy it (Art. 532)
b) By his legal representatives, agent or any other person if ratified; in case of
minors/incapacitated persons, they need the assistance of their legal
representatives
c) By operations of law (Art. 534) as in the case of hereditary title -
transmission from the moment of death
d) Possession cannot be acquire through force or intimidation as long as there
is a possessor who objects to it (Art. 536; but see the doctrine of Self-Help)
e) Acts merely tolerated and those executed clandestinely and without
knowledge or by violence do not affect possession (Art. 537)
Page 24 of 70
f) Possession of movables in good faith is equivalent to a title, however, the

person who was unlawfully deprive may recover it (Art. 559); there must be
reimbursement in case of acquisition in public sale.
g) Possession as a fact cannot be recognized at the same time in two different
personalities except in co-possession (Art. 538)
(1) Present possessor is preferred
(2) The one longer in possession is preferred in case there are two
possessors
(3) The one who presents a title is preferred in case of the date of possess
are the same.
C. Loss of Possession
1. General Rule (Art. 554)
a) By abandonment of the thing
b) By assignment made to another either by onerous or gratuitous title
c) By destruction or total loss of the thing or because it goes out of commerce
d) By the possession of another
(1) One year
(2) Ten years - real right of possession is lost
(3) Prescription on immovables is subject to land registration laws
2. Presumptions
• Movables are not deemed lost as long as they remain under the control of
the possessor even thought the time being he ay not know its whereabout.
D. Effects of Possession
1. Possession is respected and will be restored if disturbed, writ of ejectment may
be issued (Art. 539, NCC)
2. Presumptions of Ownership in favor of Actual Possessors
a) Just title - if possession is in the concept of an owner; possessor cannot be
obliged to show or prove it. (Art. 541, NCC)
b) A possessor who shows possession at some previous time is presumed to
have held possession also during the intermediate period in the absence of
proof to the contrary. (Art. 459, NCC)
c) Possession of real properties presumes possession of movables (Art. 542,
NCC)
3. Rules in common possession (Art. 534, NCC)
a) Allocation after division is presumed to have been possessed during the
entire duration of co-possession
b) Interruption of possession prejudices all the possessors
c) In case of Civil Interruption, the Rules of Court applies
d) Tacking of Possession
Page 25 of 70
E. Adverse Possession
1. Concept
• Possession without authority and adverse to the interest of the lawful
possessor;
2. Rule upon Recovery of Possession by the Lawful Possessor

a) Improvements caused by nature or time always insure to the benefit of the
person who succeeded in recovering possession (Art. 551); and
b) Nor is he obliged to pay for improvements which have ease to exist at the
time he takes possession of the thing (Art. 553)
c) Recovery of possession unjustly lost - possessor deemed to have
uninterrupted possession.
d) Possession in Good Faith
(1) Definition
• A Possessor in good faith is a possessor who is not aware that there
exists in his title or mode of acquisition any flaw which invalidates it;
• Mistakes as to question of law may be a basis of good faith (Art. 526);
Good faith is presumed and bad faith has to be proved (Art. 527);
• Good faith is lost upon knowledge of the facts (Art. 528)
(2) Effects of Possession in Good Faith
(a) On the Fruits

i) Entitled to the fruits before possession is legally interrupted
ii) Right to his proportional share in case of natural and industrial
fruits in case of interruption
(b) Refund
i) For necessary expenses with right of retention until reimbursement
(Art. 546, par. 1)
ii) For useful expenses with right of retention - owner has the option
to refund or to pay increase in value (Art. 546 par. 2)
iii) For expenses for pure luxury or mere pleasure (Art. 548)
(c) Removal
i) Of useful improvements if it can be done without damage or refund
(Art. 547)
ii) Of ornaments for embellishment if it suffers no injury and if owner
does not prefer to refund (Art. 548)
(d) Liability
i) Not liable for the deterioration or loss except if there is fraudulent
intent or negligence after judicial summons
Page 26 of 70
e) Possession in Bad Faith
(1) Definition
• A possessor in bad faith is a possessor who is is aware, has
knowledge or has actual notice of any flaw in his title
(2) Effects of Possession in Bad Faith
(a) On the Fruits

• Obligation to reimburse the owner/legitimate possessor the fruits
received
(b) Refund
• For necessary expenses only without right of retention (Art. 546
and 549)
(c) Removal
• Of improvement for pure luxury or please if no injury is cause and
the lawful possessor does not prefer to retina the by paying its
value (Art. 549)
(d) Liability
• Liable for losses including fortuitous events
3. Acquisitive and Extinctive Prescription
a) Adverse Possession
Possession acquired and enjoyed in the concept of owner. Such possession
can serve as a title for acquiring dominion (Art. 540, NCC and Art. 1118,
NCC)
b) Prescription
By prescription, one acquires ownership and other real rights through the
lapse of time in theater and under the conditions laid down by law. In the
same way, rights and conditions are lost by prescription (Art. 1106, NCC).
Possession has to be in the concept of an owner, public, peaceful and
uninterrupted (Art. 1118, NCC). However, lands registered under the Torrens
System of land registration is not subject to prescription (Section 47, PD No.
1529 or the Property Registration Decree, “Section 47. Certificate not subject
to prescription. No title to registered land in derogation of the title of the
registered owner shall be acquired by prescription or adverse possession.”
c) Kinds of Acquisitive Prescription

(1) Ordinary Acquisitive Prescription - requires possession of things in good
faith and with just title for the time fixed by law (Art. 1117, NCC). The
good faith of the possession consists in the reasonable belief that the
person from whom he received the thing was the owner and could
transmit ownership (Art. 1127). There is just title when the adverse
claimant came into possession of the property through one of the modes
Page 27 of 70
recognized by law for the acquisition of ownership or other real rights, but
the grantor was not the owner or could not transmit any right (Art. 1129,
NCC). Just title has to be proved and is never presumed (Art. 1131,
NCC).
(2) Extraordinary Acquisitive Prescription - Acquisition of ownership and
other real rights over things through uninterrupted possession without
need of title or of good faith (Art. 1137, NCC).
d) Period of possession required
(1) Ordinary Prescription

(a) Ownership and other real rights over immovable property are
acquired by ordinary prescription through possession of ten years
(Art. 1134, NCC).
(b) Ownership of movables prescribed through uninterrupted possession
of four years in good faith (Art. 1132, par. 1, NCC)
(2) Extra-ordinary Prescription

(a) Ownership and other real rights over immovable prescribe through
uninterrupted adverse possession for thirty years (Art. 1137, NCC).
(b) Ownership of movables prescribes through uninterrupted possession
for eight years, without need of any condition (Art. 1132, par. 2, NCC)
e) Rule on Prescriptions
(1) All things which are within the commerce of men are susceptible of
prescription, unless otherwise provided. Property of the State or any of its
subdivision not patrimonial in character shall not be the object of
prescription. (Art. 1113, NCC)
(2) Movables possessed through a brie can never be acquired through
prescription by the offender (Art. 1133, NCC)
(3) Tacking of possession
(4) Interruptions
(a) Acts of possession by mere tolerance of the owner is not adverse
possession for purposes of prescription (Art. 1119, NCC)
(b) Possession is interrupted naturally or civilly (Art. 1120, NCC).
i) Natural - when through any cause it should cease for more than
one year and the old possession is not revived if a new
possession should be exercise by the same adverse claimant (Art.
1121, NCC).
ii) Civil - by judicial summons to the possessor (Art. 1122).
Possession in wartime when the civil courts are not open, shall not
be counted in favor of adverse claimant (Art. 1136, NCC)
(c) Adverse possessor makes express or tacit recognition of owner’s
right (Art. 1125, NCC)
(5) Rule on Computing time (Art. 1138, NCC)

Page 28 of 70
(a) Tacking of possession - the present possessor may complete the

period necessary for prescription by tacking his possession to that of
his grantor or predecessor in interest.
(b) It is presumed that the present possessor who has also the possessor
at a previous time, has continued to be in possession during the
intervening time, unless there is proof to the contrary.
(c) The first day shall be excluded and the las day included.
IV. Accession
A. General rule:
1. The law assigned ownership of things produced to the owner of the principal
(Art. 440, 441 and 422, NCC)
a) Natural - spontaneous products of the soil, and the your and other products
of animals;
b) Industrial - produced by lands of any kind through cultivation or labor; and
c) Civil - rents of building, the price of leases of lands and other property and
the amount of perpetual or life annuities or there similar income.
2. The owner has the obligation to pay for the expenses made by third persons in
their production, gathering, and preservation (Art. 443, NCC)
a) Base on the principle of unjust enrichment;
b) Expenses that are required by the condition of the work on the property;
c) A possessor in bad faith is considered as a third person if he turned over the
produce of the land that are already separated from the immovable (Tolentino
saying that this is the general rule, Art. 449 is the exception; Tacas vs. Tabon)
3. The law presumed that the accessory thing belongs to owner of the principal
a) The possession of real property presumes that of the movables therein,
soloing as it is not shown that they should be excluded (Art. 542, NCC)
b) The possession of movable is not deemed lost so long as hey remain under
he control of the possessor even though for the time being he may not know
their whereabouts (Art. 556, NCC)
B. Types of Accession
1. Accession discreta- right of the owner pertaining to the fruits
2. Accession continua - right of the owner pertaining to things attached or
incorporated
C. Accession in Immovable Property

1. General rule
a) All that is built, planted or sown on the land is presumed to belongs to the
land owner (Art. 445, NCC) unless the contrary is proved (Art. 446, NCC)
b) Drift woods belongs to the owner of the land unless claimed with payment for
expenses in the gathering and preservation
Page 29 of 70
c) Accretion on river banks under Art. 457, NCC belongs to the owner but does
not include accretion on lakes
d) Rule on avulsion under Art. 459, NCC
e) Rule on changes is the course of rivers Art. 46, Art. 462 and Art. 465, NCC
f) Rule on Islands
2. Rule on Builder, Planter and Sower on Lands of Another

a) Builder, Planter, and Sower in good faith (Art. 448, NCC)
(1) Owner appropriate the property with payment of indemnity
(2) BPS may be compelled to pay for the land or to pay rent
b) Builder, Planter and Sower in bad faith (Art. 449/450, NCC)
(1) Owners acquires the BPS without payment of indemnity
(2) or/Owner demands demolition with restoration
(3) or/Owner pays the land/rent
(4) BPS is entitled to reimbursement for the preservation of the land (Art.
452, NCC)
(5) BPS in bad faith is entitled to reimbursement for the necessary expenses
for preservation
(6) BPS is bad faith is always liable for and with damages (Art. 451, NCC)
c) Both owner and BPS is in bad faith (Art. 453, NCC)
(1) Treated as if both acted in good faith
(2) Cancels out the bad faith of each
(3) There is bad faith on the part of the owner if he has knowledge and did
not oppose the BPS on his land? If the owner acted on bad faith while the
TP acted on goodbye faith, the BPS has the right of a material man under
Art. 447
3. Rule on Persons Providing Materials to Owners

a) Rights of material men
b) Payment, removal if it will cause no injury and removal with injury if the owner
acted on bad faith (Art. 447, NCC)
D. Rules on Accession in Movable Property

1. General Rule
(1) Owner of the principal acquires the accessory with indemnity (Art. 466,
NCC)
2. Definition of Principal
(1) Not the ornament (Art. 467, NCC)
(2) The one with greater value (Art. 468, NCC)
(3) The one with greater volume (Art. 468, NCC)
Page 30 of 70
3. Rule on Separation
a) The Principal does not acquire the Accessory if the two objects can be
separated without injury. (Art. 469, 2nd par., NCC)
b) When the accessory is more valuable than the principal, the owner may
demand separation even if there would be injury.
c) If the things are mixed (no principal/accessory), proportional division bearing
in mind the value of the things mixed. (Art. 472, NCC)
4. Rule on Acquisition if there is Bad Faith (Art. 470, NCC)

(1) Owner of Accessory in Bad Faith - owner of the accessory loose the thing
without indemnity
(2) Owner of Principal in Bad Faith - owner of accessory may choose
reimbursement with damages or separation with damages.
(3) If both are in Bad Faith, rule is Art. 466, NCC
(4) In case of Bad Faith in mixture/confusion
(5) Owner in BF loosed his property with indemnity (Art. 473, NCC)
5. Rule on owners of materials

a) The maker in Bad Faith, owner of the material shall have the right to
appropriate the work without payment or demand value of the material with
damages
b) Ownership of Materials Used
(1) In consensual contracts, payment of the materials
(2) If the material was use without consent, indemnity and delivery of a thing
equal in kind or value or price according to expert appraisal. (Art. 471,
NCC)
(3) Labor/Craft in good faith - craftsman acquires the materials with with
indemnity for the value of the materials, if the material is more valuable
than the finish goods, owner pays for the value of the work or demand
indemnity for the material (Art. 476, NCC)
6. Rules on Third Persons

a) Reimbursement under Art. 443 - if the owner receives a fruit, he should pay
third persons who incur expenses in its production, gathering and
preservation.
V. Co-Ownership
A. Definition
The ownership of an undivided thing or rights belongs to different person (Art. 484)
B. General Rule
1. Presumption is equal shares (Art. 485, NCC)
2. Full ownership of his share (Art. 493, NCC)
Page 31 of 70
3. On Share - the share of the co-owners in the benefits as well as in the charges
are proportional to their interest and any stipulation altering this proportion is
void . (Art. 485, NCC)
C. On Right to Use
1. Any co-owner ay use the thing in accordance with its purpose (Art. 486, NCC)
2. Cannot use it in such a way as to injure the interest of the co-owners or
prevents them from using it according to their rights
3. Co-owner may not alter the thing in common even though it will benefit all co-
owners; judicial relief if the withholding of consent is prejudicial (Art. 491) or if
the resolution of the majority is prejudicial (Art. 492)
D. On Right to Exclude
1. May not exclude co-owners (Art. 486)
2. Prescription does not run against co-owner as long as he recognises the co-
ownership (Art. 494, par. 5)
E. On Right to Transfer
1. Any co-owner may alienate, assign or mortgage his right (Art. 493)
2. Any co-owner may substitute another person in the enjoyment of the use except
if personal rights are involved (Art. 493)
3. Creditors and Assignees may take part in the division but cannot impugn any
partition that has been executed (Art. 497)
F. On Right to Vindicate
1. Any co-owner may bring an action for Ejectment (Art. 487)
G. On Right to Partition
1. Any co-owner may demand partition any time in so far as his share is concern
(Art. 492 and 496);
2. Mutual accounting for benefits receive and reimbursement (Art. 500);
3. Creditors or assignees of a co-owner may take part in the division and object to
its being effected without their concurrence (Art. 497).
4. Kinds of Partition (Art. 496)
a) Private Partition (Art. 496)
b) Judicial Partition (Art. 496)
5. Exception to Right of Partition
a) By agreement for a period not more than ten years. Extension is allowed by
a new agreement. (Art. 494, par. 2)
b) Donor and Testator may prohibit partition but it shall not exceed 20 years
(Art. 494, par. 3)
c) If the partition will render the thing unserviceable for the use for which it was
intended (Art. 495).
Page 32 of 70
• Indemnification of other co-owners by the acquiring co-owner but if there

is no agreement, the thing shall be sold and the proceeds distributed (Art.
497)
H. Effect of Partition to Third Persons (Art. 499)

• Does not prejudice third person who has a right of mortgage, servitude or any
other real right before the division.
• Does not prejudice personal rights
I. Warranty
• Every co-owner shall be liable for defects of title and quality of the portion assigned
to each of he other co-owners. (Art. 501)
J. Obligations of Co-Owners
1. Contribute to the expenses for preservation and to taxes. (Art. 488)
2. Contribute to the expenses for improvement upon majority decision (Art. 489).
Majority decision must include co-owners representing controlling interest (Art.
492)
3. As far a practicable, other co-owners must be notified before a co-owner incur
expenses for preservation.
K. Renunciation of Shares
• A co-owner may renounce his share share as may be equivalent to this share of
the expenses and taxes but not when it is detrimental to the interest of the co-
ownership (Art. 488)
L. Special rules on co-ownership of buildings with different Stories

• Art. 490, NCC
VI. Trespass, Interference, Nuisance and The Right to

Vindicate
A. Distinguish Trespass from Nuisance
• Nuisance there is injury to property or interference with its use or enjoyment
without entry or physical invasion of the property.
• Injury - immediate in trespass but consequential only in nuisance/infringement.
• In nuissance, the "interference" was not the result of a neighbor stealing land or
trespassing on the land. Instead, it arose from activities taking place on another
person's land that affected the enjoyment of that land.
B. Trespass
1. Concept
•
Trespass to land is the most commonly associated with the term trespass; it
takes the form of an unlawful physical invasion or usurpation of rights in real
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property”. In acts of trespass, the trespasser should have no legal right on

the property
• Generally, it is not necessary to prove harm to a possessor's legally
protected interest; and
• Liability for unintentional intrusions; see good faith and bad faith.
• Trespass to chattels, also known as trespass to goods or trespass to
personal property, is defined as "an intentional interference with the
possession of personal property by another.
• The lessor is not obliged to answer for a mere act of trespass which a person
may cause on the use of the thing leased; but the lessee shall have a direct
action against the intruder (Art. 1664, NCC)
• Mere acts of trespass does not suspend payment in sale (Art. 1590)
2. Cause of Action
a) The owner has the right of action against the holder and possessor of the
thing in order to recover it. (Art. 428, Par. 2, NCC)
b) Presumption of ownership is given to actual possessor (Art. 433, NCC)
c) In an action to recover, plaintiff must rely on the strength of his title and not
on the weakness of the defendant’s claim (Art. 434, NCC)
3. Remedies in Trespass in Real Properties

a) Self Help (Art. 429, NCC)
(1) The owner or lawful possessor of a thing has the right to exclude any
person from the enjoyment and disposal thereof. For this purpose, he
may use force as may be reasonable necessary to repel or prevent an
actual or threatened unlawful physical invasion or usurpation of his
property.
b) Criminal Prosecution
(1) Usurpation of Real Rights under Article 312 of the RPC
(a) By means of violence against or intimidation of persons takes
possession of any real property
(b) Usurp any real rights in property belonging to another
(2) Other Form of Swindling under Article 316 of the RPC
(a) Any person who pretending to be the owner of any real property shall
convey, sell, encumber of mortgage the same
(b) Any Person who knowing that the property is encumbered shall
dispose the same although such encumbrance is not recorded
(c) Any person who sell, mortgage or encumber real property use as
surety in a bond
c) Civil Action for recovery of Possession
(1) Forceable Entry and Unlawful Detainer
(a) An action instituted by a person deprived of the possession of any
land or building by force, intimidation, threat, strategy, or stealth
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(Forceable Entry) or a landlord, vendor, vendee or other person

against whom the possession of any land or building is unlawfully
withheld after the expiration of any contract, express or implied
(Unlawful Detainer).
(b) Action is instituted with the Municipal/City Trial Court
(c) Action must be instituted within one year
i) From time of unlawful deprivation
ii) Demand to vacate
(d) Relief is restitution of possession with damages and costs
(e) Procedure is covered by Rule 70 of the Rules of Court on Forceable
Entry and Unlawful Detainer
i) Summary Procedure
ii) Immediate Execution on Judgement
iii) A possessor deprived of his possession may within ten days from
filing of the complaint present a motion to secure from the court a
writ of preliminary injection to restore him in his possession. Court
must decide the motion whiting thirty (30) days. (Art. 539)
d) Acción Publiciana
(1) If cause of dispossession is not FEUD or upon expiration of one year to
commence an action for FEUD
e) Recovery of Ownership and Possession
(1) Accion Reivindicatoria
(2) The action is for recovery of ownership and not just possession
(3) The defendant claims ownership over the land such as when there is
adverse possession
f) Writ of Possession - A separate action for recovery of possession is not
necessary, the court may issue a writ of possession to eject the occupant of
the land in the following instances:
(1) Land Registration Proceedings
(2) Extra-judicial Foreclosure of Mortgage as against the mortgagor
(3) Judicial Foreclosure as against the mortgagor
(4) Execution Sale
g) Eviction and Demolition under Republic Act No. 7279 (Urban Development
and Housing Act of 1992)
(1) Section 28. Eviction and Demolition - Eviction and demolition shall be
discourage. Eviction and demolition, however, may be allowed under the
following situations:
(a) When persons or entities occupy danger areas such as esteros,
railroad tracks, garbage dumps, riverbanks, shorelines, waterways,
and other public places such as sidewalks, roads, parks and
playgrounds;
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(b) When government infrastructure projects with available ending are

about to be implemented; or
(c) When there is a tour order for eviction and demolition.
In the execution of eviction and demolition orders involving underprivileged and
homeless citizens, the following shall be mandatory:
(a) Notice upon the affected person at least thirty (30) days prior to the
date of eviction or demolition;
(b) Adequate consultations on the matter of settlement with the duly
designated representatives of the families to be resettled and the
affected communities int he areas where they are to be relocated;
(c) Presence of local government officials or their representatives during
eviction or demotion;
(d) Proper identification of all persons taking part in the demolition;
(e) Execution of eviction or demolition only during regular office hour from
Mondays to Fridays and during good weather unless the affected
families consent otherwise;
(f) No use of heavy equipment for demotion except for structures that are
permanent and of concrete materials;
(g) Proper Uniform for members of the PNP who shall occupy the first line
of law enforcement and observe proper disturbance control procedure;
and
(h) Adequate relocation, whether temporary or permanent, provided,
however that incases of eviction and demolition pursuant to a court
order involving underprivileged and homeless citizens, relocation shall
be undertaken by the local government unit concerned and the
National Housing Authority with the assistance of other government
agencies within forth-five (45) days form service of notice of final
judgement by the court, after which period the said order shall be
executed: provided, further, that should relocation no be impossible
with the said period, financial assistance in the amount equivalent to
the prevailing minimum wage multiplied by sixty (60) days shall be
extended to the affected families by the local government unit
concerned.
4. In Personal Property
a) Self Help (Art. 429, NCC)
(1) The owner or lawful possessor of a thin has the right to exclude any
person from the enjoyment and disposal thereof. For this purpose, he
may use force as may be reasonable necessary to repel or prevent an
actual or threatened unlawful physical invasion or usurpation of his
property.
b) Criminal Prosecution
(1) Revised Penal Code Book II, Title 10 "Crime against Property"
(a) Robbery
(b) Brigandage
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(c) Theft
(d) Arson
(e) Malicious Mischief
c) Replevin
(1) Is a lawsuit that enables a person to get back personal property taken
wrongfully or unlawfully and get compensation for resulting losses
(2) From medieval times, there has also come down to us a summary
process, known as replevin, by which a man out of whose possession
goods have been taken may obtain their return until the right to the goods
can be determined by a court of law. Replevin arose out of the need of a
turbulent society to discourage resort to self help and although for a long
time primarily used in disputes about distress between landlord and
tenant, it was gradually expanded to cover all cases of allegedly wrongful
dispossession. If the plaintiff wanted return of his chattel in specie,
replevin was a more appropriate remedy than either trespass or trover in
which only damages could be recovered. Restoration of the property is, of
course, only provisional, pending determination of title.
(3) Rule 60 of the Rules of Court (Recovery of possess of personal property)
(a) A party praying for the recovery of possession of personal property ay,
at the commencement of the action or at any time before answer,
apply for an order for the delivery of such property to him.
(b) The applicant must give bond, executed to the adverse party in boodle
the value of the property, for the return of the property to the adverse
party if such return be adjudged and for the payment to the adverse
party of such sum as he may recover from the applicant in the action.
(c) The adverse party may file a counter bond double the value of the
property
C. Nuisance and Interference to Property Rights

1. Concept
a) Definition: A condition, activity, or situation that interferes with the use or
enjoyment of property especially a non-transitory condition or persistent
activity that either injures the physical condition of adjacent land or interferes
with the use or with the enjoyment of another of his property.
b) Persons in possession of real property (land owners, lessors, etc.) are
entitled to the quiet enjoyment of their lands. If a neighbour interferes with
that quiet enjoyment, either by creating smells, sounds, pollution or any other
hazard that extends past the boundaries of the property, the affected party
may make a claim in nuisance.
c) Competing property uses often posed a nuisance to each other and as a
result, the cost of litigation to settle the conflict became prohibitive. As a
response, local governments started to adopt zoning ordinances or a system
of land use planning that allows only certain activities in a given location.
Zoning generally overrules nuisance.
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d) Modern legislations on the environment is an adaptation of the doctrine of

nuisance to the more modern complex societies. In this new context, a
person's use of his properties may be regulated although the harmfully affect
of his actions on his neighbour is far from the traditional nuisance activities.
e) Tort arising from such acts, conditions, or failures to act when they occur
unreasonably, the main feature of which is the interest invaded is the use or
enjoyment of property rights. The tort emphasizes the harm to the plaintiff
rather than the conduct of the defendant.
f) Legally, the term nuisance is traditionally used in three ways:
(1) Describes an activity or condition that is harmful or annoying to others
(2) Describe the harm caused by the before-mentioned activity or condition
(3) Describe a legal liability that arises from the combination of the two.
2. Under the Civil Code:

• An act, omission, establishment, business, condition of property or anything
which injures, annoys, offends, shocks, defies decency, morality, obstructs or
interferes with free passage or hinders or impairs the use of property (Art. 694,
NCC)
3. Nuisance according to the object or objects that it affects (Art. 695,

NCC) - Public and Private Nuisance (Art. 695, NCC)
a) Public Nuisance or Common Nuisance affects a community or neighborhood
or any considerable number of persons although the extent of annoyance or
range or damage is unequal
b) Private nuisance affects only specific individuals and not the whole
community; violates only private rights
4. Nature
a) Per Se - nuisance at all times and under any circumstances, regardless of
location or surroundings
b) Per Incidens - nuisance by reason of the circumstance and surroundings
c) A nuisance per se when it affects the immediate safety of persons and
property may be summarily abated under the law of necessity.
d) A nuisance per incidens, which depend upon certain conditions and
circumstance, and its existence being a question of fact, cannot be abated
without due hearing or judicial intervention.
5. Easement against nuisance

a) Every building or piece of land is subject to easement which prohibits the
proprietor or possessor from committing nuisance through noise, jarring,
offensive odor, smoke, heat, dust, water glare and other causes (Art. 682,
NCC)
b) Subject to zoning, health, police and other laws and emulations, factories
and shops may be maintained provided the least possible annoyance is
cause to the neighbourhood (Art. 683, NCC)
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c) Condemnation of Property by reason of health, safety or security (Art. 436,

NCC)
(1) The owner of a property is not entitled to compensation when it is
condemned by the State by reason of health, safety or security
(2) Unless such action is unjustified
6. Remedies
a) Prosecution under the Penal Code
(1) Limited to public nuisance
b) Civil Action
(1) If public nuisance - action shall be commence by the city (Art. 701)
(2) Exception - it may be filed by a private person if it is specially injurious to
him
c) Abatement without judicial proceeding
(1) Public Nuisance by Officers of the Law(Art. 700-703)
(a) Exercise of police power by the State - the State may authorise its
officers to abate public nuisance without resort to legal proceedings
and without notice or hearing;
(b) Limitation - it must be reasonable and effectively exercise; not unduly
oppressive to individuals; the injury must be done to the property is
necessary to accomplish the abatement (Art. 707 provides that
person performing extra-judicial abatement may be liable for damages
if he causes unnecessary injury or the the alleged nuisance is
declared by the court as not a real nuisance.
(c) Owner of the property not entitled to compensation
(2) Public Nuisance by Private Persons (Art. 704)
(a) Private persons may abate a public nuisance that are injurious to him
by removing or if necessary destroying the thing; in extreme
necessity; timeliness
(b) Must not breech the peace
(c) Demand must be made to abate and owner refused
(d) Must be made with the approval of the district health officer and with
assistance of the local police
(e) The value of the property must not exceed three thousand pesos
(3) Private Nuisance by Private Persons (Art. 706)
• Procedure is similar to abatement of public nuisance by private person
D. Torts and Damages

• A private nuisance is a civil wrong; it is the unreasonable, unwarranted, or
unlawful use of one's property in a manner that substantially interferes with the
enjoyment or use of another individual's property, without an actual Trespass or
physical invasion to the land.
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• A public nuisance is a criminal wrong; it is an act or omission that obstructs,

damages, or inconveniences the rights of the community. A public nuisance
interferes with the public as a class, not merely one person or a group of
citizens. However, if the individual suffers harm that is different from that
suffered by the general public, the individual may maintain a tort action for
damages. For example, if dynamiting has thrown a large boulder onto a public
highway, those who use the highway cannot maintain a nuisance action for the
inconvenience. However, a motorist who is injured from colliding with the
boulder may bring a tort action for personal injuries.
1. Private Nuisance as Tort
a) To determine accountability for an alleged private nuisance, a court will
examine three factors:
(1) The defendant's fault - the intention or the negligence of the defendant
that interfered with the plaintiff's use and enjoyment;
(2) The degree of interference with the plaintiff's interest - The law is not
intended to remedy trifles or redress petty annoyances. The interference
with the plaintiff's interest must be substantial.
(3) The reasonableness of the defendant's conduct - The law recognizes that
the activities of others must be accommodated to a certain extent,
particularly in matters of industry, commerce, or trade. The nature and
gravity of the harm is balanced against the burden of preventing the harm
and the usefulness of the conduct.
(4) The following are factors to be considered:
(a) Extent and duration of the disturbance;
(b) Nature of the harm;
(c) Social value of the plaintiff's use of his or her property or other
interest;
(d) Burden to the plaintiff in preventing the harm;
(e) Value of the defendant's conduct, in general and to the particular
community;
(f) Motivation of the defendant;
(g) Feasibility of the defendant's mitigating or preventing the harm;
(h) Locality and suitability of the uses of the land by both parties.
E. Quieting of Title
1. An action brought to remove a cloud on title to real property by reason of any
instrument, record, claim, encumbrance or proceedings which is apparently
valid or effective but is in truth and in fact invalid, ineffective or unenforceable,
and may be prejudicial to said title. (Art. 476)
2. Legal or equitable title to or interest to real property
3. Return of all the benefits acquired by the plaintiff to the defendant (Art. 479)
`
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VII. LIMITATIONS OF OWNERSHIP

A. Injurious Use
1. General Rule
• An owner cannot make use of the property in such manner as to injure the
rights of a third person.
2. On Ruinous Buildings and Trees in Danger of Falling

a) Chapter 4, Sections 482-483, NCC
b) Owner has the obligation to demolish or to execute necessary work
c) Administrative authority may order its demolition or to take measures to
insure public safety
B. Easements and Servitudes in General

1. Definitions
a) In General:
• An interest in land owned by another person, consisting in the right to use
or control the land, or an area above or below it, for specific limited
purpose such as to cross it for access to a public road. Unlike lease, an
easement may last forever, but it does not give the holder the right to
possess, take from, improve or sell the land.
• An easement or servitude is an encumbrance imposed upon an
immovable for the benefit of another immovable belonging to a different
owner. Servitudes may also be established for the benefit of a community,
or of one or more persons to whom the encumbered estate does not
belong (Articles 613, 614, 617 and 618, NCC).
• Easements are inseparable from the estate to which they actively or
passively belong.
• If the servient estate is divided between two or more persons, the
easement is not modified, and each of them must bear it on the part
which corresponds to him.
b) Dominant Estate
• The land benefitting from the estate is called the dominant estate
c) Servient Estate
• The land burdens by an easement is called servient estate
2. Kinds of Easements
a) Continuous or Discontinuous
b) Apparent or Non-apparent
c) Positive or Negative
d) Legal and Voluntary
e) Legal and Private Easements
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(1) Legal Easements: imposed by law for public use - governed by special
laws
(2) Private Easements: governed by the provisions of the Civil Code; without
prejudice to the provisions of general or local laws and ordinances for the
general welfare. These easements may be modified by agreement of the
interested parties, whenever the law does not prohibit it or no injury is
suffered by a third person.
3. Modes of Acquiring Easements

a) By Prescription
• Continuous and apparent easements - by title or prescription of 10 years
b) By Title
• Continuous non-apparent and discontinuous easements - by title
4. Rights and Obligations (Article 627-630)

a) Dominant Estate
• The owner of the dominant estate may, upon notice to the owner of the
servant estate, make at his own expense any works necessary for the use
and preservation of the servitude, but without altering it or rendering it
more burdensome.
• Rules
1. Most convenient time;
2. Most convenient manner; and
3. Least inconvenience
b) Servient Estate
• The owner of the servient estate cannot impair, in any manner
whatsoever, the use of the servitude. The owner of the servient estate
retains the ownership of the portion on which the easement is
established, and may use the same in such a manner as not to affect the
exercise of the easement.
• Exception - should the easement become very inconvenient to the owner
of the servient estate, it may be changed at his expense, provided he
offers another place or manner equally convenient without injuring the
dominant estates.
5. Extinguishment of Easements
a) By merger;
b) By prescription or non-user (form and manner) for ten years, however, If the
dominant estate belongs to several persons in common, the use of the
easement by any one of them prevents prescription with respect to the
others;
c) By its condition making the easement unusable unless revived prior to
prescription;
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d) By the contract (term, condition, redemption) as agreed by the owners of the

dominant and servient estate; and
e) By the renunciation of the owner of the dominant estate
6. Special Law: Presidential Decree No. 1096 (National Building Code

of the Philippines)
a) Repealed Republic Act No. 6541 (An Act to Ordain and Institute a National
Building Code of the Philippines
b) Section 301. Building Permits. - No person, firm or corporation, including any
agency or instrumentality of the government shall erect, construct, alter,
repair, move, convert or demolish any building or structure or cause the
same to be done without first obtaining a building permit therefor from the
Building Official assigned in the place where the subject building is located
or the building work is to be done.
c) Chapter 2: Administration and Enforcement (related to nuisance)
d) Chapter 6: Fire Resistive Requirements in Construction (related to party
walls)
e) Chapter 8: Light and Ventilation (related to party walls, light and view)
f) Chapter 9: Sanitation (related to waters, drainage of buildings)
g) Chapter 10: Building Projection Over Public Streets (related to right of way,
light and view, distances)
h) Chapter 12: General Design and Construction Requirements (related to
lateral and subjacent supports)
i) Chapter 20: Signs (related to light and view)
7. Easement of Right of Way

a) Articles 649 to 657 of the Civil Code
b) Definition - The right to pass through property owned by another. ROW can
be established by contract, by longstanding use or by law.
c) Dominant and Subservient Estate -
d) Compulsory Right of Way - A person may demand ROW if his property is
enclosed by other properties under the following conditions.
(1) That the dominant estate is surrounded by other immovables and has no
adequate outlet to a public highway (Art. 649, par. 1);
(2) After payment of proper indemnity (Art. 649, par. 1, end);
(3) That the isolation was not due to acts of the proprietor of the dominant
estate (Art. 649, par. 4); and
(4) That the right of way claimed is at the point least prejudicial to the
servient estate; and insofar as consistent with this rule, where the
distance from the dominant estate to a public highway may be the
shortest. (Art. 650)
e) Executive Order No. 621, s. 1980 (Amended EO 113, s. 1955)
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(1) National roads shall have a right of way of not less than twenty (20)
meters, provided that such minimum width may be reduced at the
discretion of the Minister of Public Highways to fifteen (15) meters in
highly urbanized areas, and that a right of way of at least sixty (60)
meters shall be reserved for roads constructed through unpatented public
land and at least one hundred twenty (120) meters reserved through
naturally forested areas of aesthetic or scientific value.
(2) What is a setback
(a) Setback – an offset applied and enforced over a real property, in the
form of negative easement, from property line to building line,
measured perpendicularly.
(b) Front setback provides “breathing air” for streets, and provisions for
future government constructions
8. Easement of Party Wall

a) Covered by Articles 658-666 of the Civil Code
b) The easement of party wall shall be governed by the provisions of this Title,
by the local ordinances and customs insofar as they do not conflict with the
same, and by the rules of co- ownership (Art. 658, NCC).
c) Presumption
• The existence of an easement of party wall is presumed, unless there is a
title, or exterior sign, or proof to the contrary in dividing walls of adjoining
buildings up to the point of common elevation; In dividing walls of gardens
or yards situated in cities, towns, or in rural communities; and in fences,
walls and live hedges dividing rural lands.
d) Renunciation
• If the owner of a building, supported by a party wall desires to demolish
the building, he may also renounce his part-ownership of the wall, but the
cost of all repairs and work necessary to prevent any damage which the
demolition may cause to the party wall, on this occasion only, shall be
borne by him (Art. 663, NCC). See also repairs on party walls.
e) Repairs
• The cost of repairs and construction of party walls and the maintenance
of fences, live hedges, ditches, and drains owned in common, shall be
borne by all the owners of the lands or tenements having the party wall in
their favor, in proportion to the right of each. Nevertheless, any owner
may exempt himself from contributing to this charge by renouncing his
part-ownership, except when the party wall supports a building belonging
to him (Art. 662, NCC)
f) Use
• Every part-owner of a party wall may use it in proportion to the right he
may have in the co- ownership, without interfering with the common and
respective uses by the other co-owners (Art. 666, NCC).
9. Easement of Light and View
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a) Right to Light:
• Right to light is a form of easement that gives an owner of a building
with windows a right to maintain the level of illumination necessary for
use in the building.
• Generally a right to light refers to the right to receive sufficient light
through an opening (such as a window), allowing ‘ordinary’ comfortable
use and enjoyment of a dwelling, or ‘ordinary’ beneficial use and
occupation of other buildings.15
• The levels of acceptable light have not been objectively quantified and
are instead assessed on a case by case basis by the courts. However,
“sufficient light according to the ordinary notions of mankind” and
“tangible deprivation to a building” are arguable expressions that have
earned substantial fees to the legal and surveying professions and given
rise to specialists and expert witnesses in this field.
• Rights to light can be the result of 'easements', or can be ‘nuisance’
issues. It is a nuisance issue if there is interference with a persons right
to enjoy his property, such interference must be ‘unreasonable’ to
constitute nuisance.
b) Covered by Articles 667-673 of the NCC
(1) General Rule (Art. 667, NCC)
• No part-owner may, without the consent of the others, open through
the party wall any window or aperture of any kind.
(2) Two Meter Rule
• No windows, apertures, balconies, or other similar projections which
afford a direct view upon or towards an adjoining land or tenement
can be made, without leaving a distance of two (2) meters between
the wall in which they are made and such contiguous property. Neither
can side or oblique views upon or towards such conterminous
property be had, unless there be a distance of sixty centimeters. The
non-observance of these distances does not give rise to prescription
(Article 670, NCC).
• Whenever by any title a right has been acquired to have direct views,
balconies or belvederes overlooking an adjoining property, the owner
of the servient estate cannot build thereon at less than a distance of
three meters to be measured in the manner provided in article 671.
Any stipulation permitting distances less than those prescribed in
article 670 is void. (Articles 673, NCC)
(3) Exception to the Two Meter Rule
• When the distances in Article 670 are not observed, the owner of a
wall which is not party wall, adjoining a tenement or piece of land
belonging to another, can make in it openings to admit light at the
height of the ceiling joints or immediately under the ceiling, and of the
size of thirty centimeters square, and, in every case, with an iron
15 http://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Rights_to_light
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grating imbedded in the wall and with a wire screen (Article 667,
NCC).
• Separated by public highway or alley - not applicable to buildings
separated by a public way or alley, which is not less than three meters
wide, subject to special regulations and local ordinances (Art. 672,
NCC).
(4) How distance is measured:
• The distance referred to in the preceding article shall be measured in
cases of direct views from the outer line of the wall when the openings
do not project, from the outer line of the latter when they do, and in
cases of oblique view from the dividing line between the two
properties (Article 671, NCC).
c) Covered by Chapter VII (Light and Ventilation) of the National Building Code
of the Philippines (Presidential Decree No. 1096)
(1) Section 808. Window Openings (P.D. 1096) - Every room intended for
any use, not provided with artificial ventilation system as herein specified
in this Code, shall be provided with a window or windows with a total free
area of openings equal to at least ten percent of the floor area of room,
and such window shall open directly to a court, yard, public street or
alley, or open water courses.
(2) Section 804 (P.D. 1096) - Size and Dimension of Courts.
(a) Minimum size of courts and their least dimensions  
shall be governed by the use, type of construction, and height of the
building as provided in the rules and regulations promulgated by the
Secretary, provided that the minimum horizontal dimension of court
shall be not less than 2.00 meters.
(b) All inner courts shall be connected to a street or yard, either by a
passageway with a minimum width of 1.20 meters or by a door
through a room or rooms.
(c) Every court shall have a width of not less than 2.00 meters for one (1)
or two (2) storey buildings. However, if the court is treated as a yard
or vice versa, this may be reduced to not less than 1.50 meters in
cluster living units such as quadruplexes, rowhouses and the like, with
adjacent courts with an area of not less than 3.00 sq. meters.
Provided further, that the separation walls or fences, if any, shall not
be higher than 2.00 meters.
10. Easement of Drainage of Buildings (Arts. 674-676)

a) General Rule: Owner should collect water falling on his land so as not to
cause damage
• The owner shall be obliged to collect the water in such a way as not to
cause damage to the adjacent land or tenement (Art. 674, NCC).
• The owner of a building shall be obliged to construct its roof or covering in
such manner that the rain water shall fall on his own land or on a street or
public place.
b) Easement of Drainage
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• Whenever the yard or court of a house is surrounded by other houses,

and it is not possible to give an outlet through the house itself to the rain
water collected thereon, the establishment of an easement of drainage
can be demanded, giving an outlet to the water at the point of the
contiguous lands or tenements where its egress may be easiest, and
establishing a conduit for the drainage in such manner as to cause the
least damage to the servient estate, after payment of the property
indemnity (Art. 676, NCC).
• The owner a piece of land, subject to the easement of receiving water
falling from roofs, may build in such manner as to receive the water upon
his own roof or give it another outlet in accordance with local ordinances
or customs, and in such a way as not to cause any nuisance or damage
whatever to the dominant estate (Art. 675, NCC).
• Local ordinances: simply adopts the letters of the National Building Code.
c) Section 904. Storm Drainage System (P.D. No.1096)
(1) Rainwater drainage shall not discharge to the sanitary sewer system.
(2) Adequate provisions shall be made to drain rainwater from low areas in
buildings and their premises.
(3) The drainage pipe installation and sewerage system of any premises
and/or connection with any public disposal or any acceptable terminal
shall conform to the Revised National Plumbing Code of the Philippines
d) Revised National Plumbing Code of the Philippines.
11. Easement on Distances (Articles 677-681)

a) Meaning
• Permanent and prohibitory easements and may run to the land in
perpetuity as long as the conditions that causes the easement exists;
• May or may not be compensable
b) Construction near fortresses
• No constructions can be built or plantings made near fortified places or
fortresses without compliance with the conditions required in special laws,
ordinances, and regulations relating thereto (Article 677, NCC).
c) Building of improvements and structures that may do damage to
neighbouring estates
• No person shall build any aqueduct, well, sewer, furnace, forge, chimney,
stable, depository of corrosive substances, machinery, or factory which by
reason of its nature or products is dangerous or noxious, without
observing the distances prescribed by the regulations and customs of the
place, and without making the necessary protective works, subject, in
regard to the manner thereof, to the conditions prescribed by such
regulations. These prohibitions cannot be altered or renounced by
stipulation on the part of the adjoining proprietors. In the absence of
regulations, such precautions shall be taken as may be considered
necessary, in order to avoid any damage to the neighbouring lands or
tenements (Article 678, NCC).
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d) Branches of trees extending and fruits falling over neighbouring estates

• If the branches of any tree should extend over a neighbouring estate,
tenement, garden or yard, the owner of the latter shall have the right to
demand that they be cut off insofar as they may spread over his property,
and, if it be the roots of a neighbouring tree which should penetrate into
the land of another, the latter may cut them off himself within his property
(Article 680, NCC).
• Fruits naturally falling upon adjacent land belong to the owner of said land
(Article 681, NCC).
12. Easement on Nuisance (Arts. 682-683)

a) Meaning
• Every building or piece of land is subject to the easement which prohibits
the proprietor or possessor from committing nuisance through noise,
jarring, offensive odour, smoke, heat, dust, water, glare and other causes
(Article 682, NCC).
b) Least possible annoyance to the neighbourhood
• Subject to zoning, health, police and other laws and regulations, factories
and shops may be maintained provided the least possible annoyance is
caused to the neighbourhood (Article 683, NCC)
c) Dangerous and ruinous buildings are also nuisances under P.D. 1096
• Section 216. Abatement of Dangerous Buildings – When any building or
structure is found or declared to be dangerous or ruinous, the Building
Official shall order its repair, vacation or demolition depending upon the
degree of danger to life, health, or safety. This is without prejudice to
further action that may be taken under the provisions of Articles 482 and
694 to 707 of the Civil Code of the Philippines.
13. Easement of Lateral and Subjacent support (Arts. 684-687)

a) Meaning in law
(1) Lateral and subjacent support, in the law of property, describes the right a
landowner has to have that land physically supported in its natural state
by both adjoining land and underground structures.
b) Subsidence
• Any downward movement of the solid from its natural position; sinking of
the soil.
c) Example
• If a neighbour's excavation or excessive extraction of underground liquid
deposits (i.e. crude oil or aquifers) causes subsidence (e.g. causing the
landowner's land to cave in), the neighbour will be subject to strict liability
in a tort action. The neighbour will also be strictly liable for damage to
buildings on the landowner's property if the landowner can show that the
weight of the buildings did not contribute to the collapse of the land. If the
landowner is unable to make such a showing, the neighbour must be
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shown to have been negligent in order for the landowner to recover

damages.
d) Excavations under the Civil Code
• No proprietor shall make such excavations upon his land as to deprive any
adjacent land or building of sufficient lateral or subjacent support. Any
stipulation or testamentary provision allowing excavations that cause danger
to an adjacent land or building shall be void. Article 686. The legal easement
of lateral and subjacent support is not only for buildings standing at the time
the excavations are made but also for constructions that may be erected.
Article 687. Any proprietor intending to make any excavation contemplated in
the three preceding articles shall notify all owners of adjacent lands (Article
684 - 687, NCC).
e) Excavation under PD No. 1096
• Section 1202, P.D. 1096 - Excavation, Foundation, and Retaining Walls
(a) Subject to the provisions of Articles 684 to 686 of the Civil Code of the
Philippines on lateral and subjacent support, the design and quality of
materials used structurally in excavation, footings, and in foundations
shall conform to accepted engineering practice.
14. Easement relating to waters

a) Characterization of Water
(1) Diffuse surface water
(a) Common enemy rule - water is common enemy to all so everyone has
a right to get rid of it in any manner they see fit. The shortcoming of
this approach is the failure to consider the consequences when
neighboring land owners are looking out for their personal interest to
the detriment of the others.
(b) Civil law rule - adopted by Civil Law countries; an individual can get
rid of the water in a manner that is in accord with the natural flow of
the water. This approach favors the upstream land owners at the
expense of the downstream.
(c) Reasonable use - determines where the water should go based upon
what would be reasonable for the ordinary person under the
circumstance. The approach, while providing the greatest flexibility,
provides the greatest uncertainty.
(2) Naturally flowing water
(a) Prior appropriation theory - Whoever takes the water first has superior
rights to the water.
(b) Natural flow theory - rights to the water are dependent on the water’s
natural flow not being disturbed. Favors the upstart owners in a
potential unfair manner.
(c) Reasonable use - determined on a case to case basis looking at what
is reasonable under the circumstance.
(3) Percolating water
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(a) Definition - Percolating waters are those which ooze, seep, or filter
through the soil beneath the surface, without a defined channel, or in
a course that is unknown and not discoverable from surface
indications without excavation for that purpose.
(b) Absolute theory - property owner has an absolute ownership of any
water that percolates through their land. May be unduly prejudicial to
neighboring landowners.
(c) Co-relative rights theory - rights to percolating water are based on the
amount of surface water owned. This does not consider the need or
reward the effort and ingenuity it may take to remove the water.
(d) Reasonable use theory - uses the reasonable person standard to
determine the rights of the rival claimants to the percolating water.
b) Articles 637-648 of the NCC
c) General Rule
• Lower estates are obliged to receive the waters which naturally and
without the intervention of man descend from the higher estates, as well
as the stones or earth which they carry with them. The owner of the lower
estate cannot construct works which will impede this easement; neither
can the owner of the higher estate make works which will increase the
burden.
d) Easement of Aqueduct
(1) Any person who may wish to use upon his own estate any water of which
he can dispose shall have the right to make it flow through the
intervening estates, with the obligation to indemnify their owners, as well
as the owners of the lower estates upon which the waters may filter or
descend. (Article 642, NCC)
(2) For legal purposes, the easement of aqueduct shall be considered as
continuous and apparent, even though the flow of the water may not be
continuous, or its use depends upon the needs of the dominant estate, or
upon a schedule of alternate days or hours, (Article 646, NCC)
(3) One who for the purpose of irrigating or improving his estate, has to
construct a stop lock or sluice gate in the bed of the stream from which
the water is to be taken, may demand that the owners of the banks
permit its construction, after payment of damages, including those
caused by the new easement to such owners and to the other irrigators,
(Article 647)
(4) Conditions: One desiring to make use of Easement of Aqueduct is
obliged:
(a) To prove that he can dispose of the water and that it is sufficient for
the use for which it is intended;
(b) To show that the proposed right of way is the most convenient and the
least onerous to third persons;
(c) To indemnify the owner of the servient estate in the manner
determined by the laws and regulations. (Article 643, NCC)
(5) Limitations:
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(a) Article 644. The easement of aqueduct for private interest cannot be
imposed on buildings, courtyards, annexes, or outhouses, or on
orchards or gardens already existing. (559)
(b) Article 645. The easement of aqueduct does not prevent the owner of
the servient estate from closing or fencing it, or from building over the
aqueduct in such manner as not to cause the latter any damage, or
render necessary repairs and cleanings impossible. (560)
(c) Article 648. The establishment, extent, form and conditions of the
servitudes of waters, to which this section refers, shall be governed by
the special laws relating thereto insofar as no provision therefor is
made in this Code. (563a)
e) Three (3) meter Easement for Navigation
• The banks of rivers and streams, even in case they are of private
ownership, are subject throughout their entire length and within a zone of
three meters along their margins, to the easement of public use in the
general interest of navigation, floatage, fishing and salvage. Estates
adjoining the banks of navigable or floatable rivers are, furthermore,
subject to the easement of towpath for the exclusive service of river
navigation and floatage. Indemnity for the private owner is necessary only
if there is occupation of land for that purpose.
f) Building of Dam for Diversion of Water
• Whenever for the diversion or taking of water from a river or brook, or for
the use of any other continuous or discontinuous stream, it should be
necessary to build a dam, and the person who is to construct it is not the
owner of the banks, or lands which must support it, he may establish the
easement of abutment of a dam, after payment of the proper indemnity.
(554)
g) Building of Dam for Diversion of Water
• Article 640. Compulsory easements for drawing water or for watering
animals can be imposed only for reasons of public use in favor of a town
or village, after payment of the proper indemnity.
• Article 641. Easements for drawing water and for watering animals carry
with them the obligation of the owners of the servient estates to allow
passage to persons and animals to the place where such easements are
to be used, and the indemnity shall include this service. (556)
C. Private Ownership vs. The State

1. Police Power
a) Land Use Regulations/Zoning
(1) In General
(a) Interference with the Traditional Property Rights Regime -
Traditionally, land owners have absolute freedom to use land except
only in nuisance and easement.
(b) Before, few regulations existed to control the use of land, due to the
seemingly endless amounts of it. As society shifted from rural to
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urban, public land regulation became important, especially to city

governments trying to control industry, commerce, and housing within
their boundaries. The first zoning ordinance was passed in New York
City in 1916 and, by the 1930s, most states had adopted zoning laws.
In the 1970s, concerns about the environment and historic
preservation led to further regulation.
(c) Criticism of zoning laws comes from those who see the restrictions as
a violation of property rights. It has been argued that local zoning
authorities can too easily strip property owners of their right to
unencumbered use of their land.
(d) Criticized as a means to promote social and economic segregation
through exclusion. These exclusionary zoning measures artificially
maintain high housing costs through various land-use regulations
such as maximum density requirements. Thus, lower income groups
deemed undesirable are effectively excluded from the given
community. i.e. gated subdivisions vs. slums
(e) In the American South, zoning was introduced as an explicit
mechanism for enforcing racial segregation of communities.
(f) Work against economic efficiency and hinder development in a free
economy. Poor zoning restriction are claimed to hinder the optimal
efficient usage of a given area.
(2) Land Use Regulation - Public regulations of the use and development of
land that generally focuses on four aspects of land use, namely:
(a) The type of use, such as whether it will be used for agricultural,
commercial, industrial, or residential purposes;
(b) The density of use, manifested in concerns over the height, with, bulk
or environmental impacts of the physical structure of the land;
(c) The aesthetic impact of the use, which may include the design and
placement of the structure of the land; and
(d) The effect of the particular use of the land on the cultural and social
values of the community
(3) Zoning - describes the control, usually by local authority, of the use of
land and of the buildings and improvements thereon. Areas of land are
divided by appropriate authorities into zones within which various uses
are permitted. It is a tool in land use planing.
(4) Terms
(a) Non-Conforming Uses - use that is impermissible under current
zoning restrictions but the is allowed because the use existed lawfully
before the restriction took effect.
(b) Amortisation
(c) Zoning Amendments
(d) Zoning Variance - A license or official authorization to depart form a
zoning law.
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(e) Special Exceptions - An allowance in a zoning ordinance for special

use that are considered essential and are not fundamentally
incompatible with the original zoning regulation.
(f) Spot Zoning - Zoning a particular piece of land without regard for the
zoning of the larger area surrounding the land.
(g) Private Zoning - The use of restrictive covenants in private agreement
to restrict the use and occupancy of real property. Private zoning often
covers such things as lot size, building line, architectural specification
and property uses.
(5) Future of Land Use Regulations
(6) Laws on Land Use in the Philippines
(a) Batas Pambansa Blg. 220 - Authorizes the ministry of human
settlements to establish and promulgate different levels of standards
and technical requirements for economic and socialized housing
projects in urban and rural areas from those provided under
Presidential Decrees No. 957, 1216, 1067 and 1185.
(b) Presidential Decree No. 957 - regulates the sale of subdivision lots
and condominiums.
(c) Presidential Decree No. 1216 - defining "open space" in residential
subdivisions and amended section 31 of Presidential Decree No. 957
requiring subdivision owners to provide roads, alleys, sidewalks and
reserve open space for parks or recreational use)
(d) Republic Act No. 7160 - mandated the LGU to prepare and implement
a comprehensive land use plan (CLUP) and shall approve subdivision
plans.
(e) Executive Order No. 71 - implemented the provision of RA No. 7160
on the LGUs mandate to approve subdivision plans, to cities and
municipalities pursuant to R.A. No. 7160 (LGC).
(f) Executive Order No. 72 - implemented the provision of the LGC for
the preparation and implementation of the comprehensive Land Use
Plans. HLURB’s role on standards.
(g) Republic Act No. 7279 - Urban Development and Housing Act
provided a comprehesive and continuing urban development and
housing program, establish the mechanism for its implementation.
(h) Proposed Land Use Act - 20 years of deliberation in Congress
b) Environmental Regulations
(1) In general
(a) Land use and land management practices have a major impact on
natural resources including water, soil, nutrients, plants and animals.
(b) The major effect of land use on land cover since 1750 has been
deforestation of temperate regions. More recent significant effects of
land use include urban sprawl, soil erosion, soil degradation,
salinization, and desertification. Land-use change, together with use
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of fossil fuels, are the major anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide,

a dominant greenhouse gas.
(c) Many environmental law affects how property can be use.
(d) Environmental laws developed only in the 1960s and created a
comprehensive legislation that sometimes intersects with laws
governing property.
(2) Property and Ecology
(a) Land is not a passive entity waining to be transformed by its land
owner. Land is already at work, performing important services in its
unaltered state. Some ecological functions have been recognized and
protected by law. Viewing land through the lens of nature’s economy
reduces the significance of property lines. (Joseph L. Sax, Property
Rights and the Economy of Nature, 45 Stan. L. Review. 1433, (1993)
(3) Theories
(a) Utilitarian theory - land is solely the owner’s property to develop as
the owner please
(b) Green theory - ecological ethic emphasises the moral duty of
humanity to act as a steward of natural life (J. Peter Bryne, Green
Property, 7 Const. Comment. 239, 243 (1990)
(c) Public Trust Doctrine - lands are deemed to be owned in trust by the
sovereign for the benefit of the public
(d) Bundle of rights - title does not include the right to violate the public
trust.
(4) Environmental Laws in the Philippines
(a) Presidential Decree No. 1586 “Establishing an Environmental Impact
Statement System, including other Environmental Management
Related Measures and for other Purposes”
(b) Presidential Decree No. 1152 “Philippine Environmental
Code” (amended)
(c) Republic Act No. 6969 “Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear
Waste Act of 1990”
(d) Republic Act No. 8749 “Philippine Clean Air Act”
(e) Republic Act No. 9003 “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of
2000”
(f) Republic Act No. 9275 “Philippine Clean Water Act No. 2004”
2. Eminent Domain
a) Art. 435. No person shall be deprive of his property except by competent
authority and for pubic use an always upon payment of just compensation.
3. Taxation
a) The theorem states that if trade in an externality is possible and there are
sufficiently low transaction costs, bargaining will lead to an efficient outcome
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regardless of the initial allocation of property. In practice, obstacles to

bargaining or poorly defined property rights can prevent Coasian bargaining.
b) Meaning of Transaction Cost - any direct costs, as well as any concomitant
inefficiencies in production or misallocation that resulted from them. When
property rights are protected and maintained in any context, transaction
costs exist. In economics and related disciplines, a transaction cost is a cost
incurred in making an economic exchange. In the neoclassical approach,
enforcement-type costs within firms are not transaction costs. Transaction
costs consist of those costs that occur between firms or individuals from the
process of market exchange.
c) If transaction costs are prohibitively high then property rights will neither be
established nor maintained and property rights will be zero. The reverse,
however, is not necessarily true. If property rights are complete in some
situation, there are two possibilities, either transaction costs are zero, or
costs may have been incurred to guarantee the property rights simply
because the benefits of doing so exceed the costs - in which case
transaction costs are positive. Further, when property rights are zero,
transaction costs could also be zero. For example, if a property right could
never be established, despite the resources devoted towards such a goal, no
one would bother making any expenditures towards establishing property
rights and the good would remain unowned. For example, there are no
property rights over the planet Venus and no efforts have been made to
establish any.
VIII.Original Modes of Acquiring Ownership (Original Creation

of Property)
A. Occupation
1. Definition
a) Things appropriable by nature which are without an owner are acquired by
occupation (Article 713, NCC)
b) But land cannot be acquired by occupation (Article 714, NCC).
2. Conditions:
a) Physical object;
b) Actual possession or control;
c) Intention to and capacity to acquire
d) Specific Resources: wild animals, hidden treasure and abandoned
movables.
e) Res nulius
• includes domesticated animals that returned to the wild (20 days to
reclaim, otherwise it shall be considered as res nullius);
3. Special Rules:
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a) Bees (right to pursue, 2 days);

b) Pigeons and fish (enticement rule);
c) Hidden treasure (Art. 438, NCC); Finder must return (1/10 reward) or he is
liable for theft under RPC Article 308, Par. (1);
d) Abandoned property becomes res nullius
4. Republic Act No. 9147 (Wildlife Resources Conservation Act and

Protections Act)
a) State Policy
(1) Implements the policy of the State to Conserve the country’s wildlife
resources and their habitats for sustainability
(2) Objectives: Conserve, protect, regulate the collection and trade, pursue
commitment to international conventions, and to initiate scientific studies
on the conservation and protection of wildlife.
b) Illegal Acts:
(1) Section 27 enumerates the illegal acts;
(a) Killing, destroying, and injuring wildlife species;
(b) Damaging critical habitats;
(c) Introduction, reintroduction or restocking of wildlife resources;
(d) Collecting, hunting, possessing, trading, and transporting of wildlife
and their by products/derivative including active nests, nest trees,
host plants and the like; and
(e) Other similar acts
c) Subject to exceptions:
(1) Section 7 and Section 27 (paragraph a, subparagraph i to v)
(2) Use by indigenous people
In accordance with customs and practices traditionally observed,
accepted and recognized including killing and destroying if part of
religious rituals of established indigenous peoples community; exception:
does not cover threatened species
(3) DENR may issue permits for:
(a) Wildlife farm or culture;
(b) Wildlife collector’s permit;
(c) Gratuitous permit;
(d) Local Transport Permit; and
(e) Export/Import/Re-export permit.
5. Roman Law Concepts:

a) res nullius (property without an owner)
b) spes recuperandi (hope of recovery)
c) animus revertendi (intent to recover)
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d) res alicujus (possession is lost but not ownership)
B. Intellectual Creation
1. General Principles:
a) Properties that are created by the human mind
b) Creation are transformed into physical objects
(1) Physical copy of the book or in the case of songs and music the copy of
the recording is owned by the buying public
(2) Many can use it without interfering with each other’s use. It is a public
good or a good that can be consumed without reducing any other
person’s consumption of it. However, the intellectual content of the
created object is owned by the author or the creator.
(3) Authors and inventors are given an incentive by giving a limited
monopoly on writings and inventions.
c) Three (3) types of Intellectual Creation
(1) Copyrights - protects original works of the authorship, i.e. books,
computer programs, plays, sculptures, songs
(2) Patents - protects new inventions
(3) Trademarks - protect words, names and other symbols which are used
by merchants to distinguish their goods and services form others
d) System of allocation of rights
(1) First in Time
(2) Principal right is the “right to exclude” others from using the intellectual
property.
(3) Governed by national laws but are increasingly affected by international
law.
(4) Intellectual Properties are protected by Special Legislation
2. Copyright
a) Objective
• To promote science and useful arts, the constitution authorizes congress
to give authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writing
and discoveries
b) As Incentive to creators
• Holds the right to exclude, prevent others from reproducing the work,
creating derivative works,, distributing copies of the work to the public,
publicly performing the wok or displaying during the term of the copy
right. The owner may transfer her copyright to others or destroy the
copyright by abandoning it.
c) What is being protected
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• Copyright law protects the manner in which an idea is expressed not the
idea itself. Thus, concepts, principles, discoveries, facts and other ideas
are not covered by copyright.
d) Copyright Infringement
• To prevail in a copyright infringement action, the plaintiff must prove that:
1. Plaintiff owns the copyright;
2. The defendant actually copied the plaintiff’s work; and
3. The ordinary observer would conclude that the defendant’s work was
substantially similar to the plaintiff’s work
3. Patent
a) Objective
• To promote science
• Patent Office - authorized to issue patent to anyone who invents or
discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture or
composition of matter or any new and useful improvement thereof.
b) Utilitarian Mandate
• Inventors are obliged to reveal how he made the invention so that others
may improve it
c) What can be patented

• There are four (4) categories of inventions to qualify for a patent; any
process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. Abstract
concept, mathematical algorithms, scientific principles and physical
phenomena cannot be patented.
d) Elements
(1) Utility - useful invention, benefit to human
(2) Novelty - new invention; prior arts examination
(3) Non-obviousness - obvious to persons with ordinary skills
(4) Enablement - description in details to enable a person skilled in the art to
which it pertains to make use of the same.
e) Patents Infringement
• Too prevail in a patent infringement action, the plaintiff must show either:
1. Literal infringement; or
2. Infringement under the “doctrine of equivalents”.
4. Trademarks
a) Objective
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• While copyrights and patent law seek to encourage creative efforts, the goals
of trademark are different. Its goal is to protect consumer form being
deceived inter purchasing shoddy goods and services
b) Trademark Infringement
• To prevail in a trademark infringement action, the plaintiff must prove:
1. Plaintiff is holding a valid trademark with priority over the defendant’s
mark
2. the defendant’s mark is likely to cause confussion or deceive
consuments
3. Or a defendant may be liable for trademark dilution if his conduct
blurs or tarnished the plaintiff.s famous mark.
IX. Derivative Mode of Acquiring Ownership (Transfers of

Rights)
A. Concept
1. The Right to Transfer - The more efficient person should be allowed to acquire
the property of the less efficient one for mutual benefit. The right to transfer is
vital for efficiency in our market economy because it helps ensure that property
is devoted to its most valuable use. What is the extent of the restrictions
B. Kinds of Transfers
1. Sale (Separate Subject in Civil Law)
2. Donation
3. Succession (Separate Subject in Civil Law)
4. Lease
5. Usufruct
X. Donation
A. Defintion
1. A voluntary contract by which the donor expressly agrees to give, without
consideration, something to the donee, and the latter in an equally express
manner accepts the gift.
2. In Roman law and in some modern codes this contract carries with it only the
obligation of transferring the ownership of the thing in question; actual ownership
is obtained only by the real traditio or handing over of the thing itself, or by the
observation of certain juridically prescribed formalities.
B. Kinds
1. Simple Donation
a) Donation is an act of liberality whereby a person disposes gratuitously of a
thing or right in favour of another who accepts it (Art. 725, NCC); and
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b) Ilegal or impossible conditions that are imposed in simple donation are

considered as not imposed (Art. 727, NCC).
2. Remuneratory
a) A donation is called remunerative when inspired by a sentiment of gratitude
for services rendered by the donee. (Art. 726, NCC)
b) Remunerates past services which do not constitute a demandable debts; and
c) The donation is not payment for a demandable debts.
3. Conditional
a) When a condition, charge or burden (also called “modes”) is is imposed by
the donor to the donee in consideration of the donation. .
b) It does not affect the rights of the donee. It is an accessory disposition where
the benefit conferred on the donee is restricted by the statement of the
purpose to which the thing shall be applied or the imposition of a presentation
to be performed by the donee.
c) The portion exceeding the value of the burden imposed constitutes a real
donation while the portion equivalent to the burden is governed by the rules
on obligations and contracts.
4. Onerous Donation
a) Donations for a valuable consideration that is demandable agains the donor
or when it imposes a burden equivalent to the value of he donation.
b) Essentially, this is a contract is is governed by the rules of contracts (Art. 722,
NCC)
c) As to when it will take effect:
(1) Inter Vivos
(a) Art. 729, NCC;
(b) The effectivity of the disposition is not made to depend upon the death
of the donor even if the delivery of the property donated may be
postponed until after the donor’s death
(2) Mortis Causa
(a) Art. 728, NCC
(b) The donation is made to depend on the death of the donor
(c) The intention is to transfer ownership after his death.
(3) In case of doubt, donations are deemed as inter visor rather than mortis
causa.
(4) The taking effect of the donation during the lifetime or after the death of
the donor down not depend upon whether the property is delivered during
such lifetime or after such death. From the moment the donor disposes
gratuitously of his property, and the disposition is accepted by the donee,
a perfect and irrevocable donation exists. Such donation may be
conditional or with a term, and the term may be the death of the donor.
Page 60 of 70
Until the day comes or the condition is fulfilled, the donation is not carried
out, but it produces effect. (Art. 729 and Art. 730, NCC)
(5) Thus, he who donates with a term, although such term may be that of his
death, has disposed already the thing donated, and can no longer revoke
the donation, nor, for that reason, can he disposed of the thing in favor of
another.
C. Essential Elements of Donation

1. Reduction of the patrimony of the donor;
2. Increase in the patrimony of the donee; and
3. The intent to do an act of liberality of the donee (animus donandi)
D. Capacity
1. Who may give donations or receive donations

a) All persons who may contract and dispose of their property may make a
donation (Art. 735, NCC);
b) Donor’s capacity shall be determined as of the time of the making of the
donation (Art. 737, NCC)
(1) “Making of the Donation” refers to the perfection of the donation;
(2) After acceptance of the donee of the donation.
c) Guardians and trustees cannot donate the property entrusted to them (Art.
736, NCC)
2. Who may accept donations

a) All those who are not disqualified by law may accept donations. (Art. 738,
NCC)
b) Those who are incapacitated to succeed by will are disqualified to accept
donation inter vivos. (Art. 740, NCC) Examples:
(1) Priest who heard the confession of the donor during his last illness
(2) Relatives of such prints within the 4th degree, the church, order, etc. of
such priests.
(3) Guardians before the final account of guardianship have been approved
except if the guardian is an ascendant, descendant, siblings or spouse;
(4) Physicians, medical attendants, etc.
(5) Unworthiness is not included since knowledge of this fact constitutes a
pardon. If the cause of unworthiness occurs after the donation, the same
cannot be revoke because donation inter vivos is revoked only for causes
under Art. 760, 764 and 765 of the NCC.
3. Void Donations
a) Between persons who are guilty of adultery or concubinage at the time of the
donation;
Page 61 of 70
b) Made to a public officer or his wife, descendants and ascendants, in

consideration of his office.
c) Applicable to insurance as well
4. Formalities
a) Public Instrument
b) Acceptance, Notification and Ratification
5. Effects of Donations and Limitations

a) Present Properties
b) Future Properties
c) Inofficious Donations
d) On Debts and Usufruct
6. Revocation and Reduction of Donations

a) Coverage
b) Extent
c) Prescription of Action
XI. USUFRUCT
A. Definition:
1. Usufruct gives a right to enjoy the property of another with the obligation of
preserving its form and substance, unless the title constituting it or the law
otherwise provides (Art. 562, NCC). It is constituted by law, by the will of private
persons in acts inter-vivos or mortis cause and by prescription (Art. 563, NCC).
The rights and obligation of the usufuctuary are provided in the title or in case of
deficiency by the code (Art. 565, NCC).
B. Rights and Obligation of the Owner

1. To make any works, improvements and plantings as long as it will not diminish
the usufruct or prejudice the right of the usufructuary
2. To received the thing at the end of the Usufruct
3. Things that deteriorates - obligation to return as is
4. Consumables - pay the appraised value at the time of the usufruct or to return
the same quantity and quality or pay the current price at the time the
usufructuary ceases.
5. To transfer or alienate the thing but he cannot alter its form or substance or do
anything thereon which may be prejudicial to the usufructuary
6. To be notified of the inventory and receive security for the thing
7. To remove trees that may be left in cases of calamities
8. To administer the thing if the usufructuary fails to give security
Page 62 of 70
9. To make ordinary repairs if the usufructuary refused after demand, at the

expense of the usufructuary
10. To pay for extra-ordinary repairs upon notice, right to demand legal interest for
the time the usufructuary last
11. Pay taxes on that relates directly on the capital
C. Rights of Usufructuary
1. Entitled to the fruits growing at the time the usufruct begins (See Article 588,
NCC on Security).
2. Entitled to Civil fruits - can lease the land - proportionate to the time
3. Entitled to the benefits from industrial and commercial enterprise - proportionate
4. In Wood land - natural fruits, including ordinary cutting without prejudicing the
preservation of the land. Cannot cut down trees unless it be to restore or
improve the land and must inform the owner.
5. Entitled to transfer or alienate his right of usufructuary
6. Entitled to Vindicate - may obliged the owner to give him authority to file action
but his right to the fruit is limited to what is adjudged to belong to the owner
7. Entitled to Set-Off the improvements introduce against the damage
8. Collect matured credits which forms part of the usufruct if he has given security
(or upon authority of the owner or the court)
D. Obligation of the Usufructuary

1. To make an inventory, description and appraisal with notice to the owner;
2. To give security
3. Not applicable to donor and parents who are usufuctuaries of the things
donated
4. If usufructuary fails to five security, the owner may demand that immovables be
put under administration,
5. Movables be sold - artistic, sentimental worth - delivery to the owner with
payment of legal interest
6. Convert public bonds, instrument of credit payable to order or bearer to
registered certificates or deposited in a bank or public institution Cash be
invested to safe securities
7. The interest of the proceeds of the sale, public securities and bonds under
administration shall belong to the usufructuary
8. The owner may act as administrator if he so prefers until the usufructuary gives
security - entitled to fees of administration, by agreement or by court order
9. Take care of the thing as a good father to a family
10. Woodland - special rule (Article 557)
11. Flock of animals - replacement of the young of the animals that die each year
from natural causes or due to rapacity of beast, uncommon events - deliver the
remains which may have been saved from the misfortune, if it perish in part, the
usufruct shall continue on the part save
Page 63 of 70
12. Ordinary repairs - usufuctuary’s obligation, owner may demand and may
perform repairs at the expense of the usufructuary
13. Extra-Ordinary Repairs - obliged to notify the owner when the need for such
repairs is urgent
14. Demand payment for the improvement cause by extra-ordinary repairs made by
him on the thing
15. Pay debts of the owner in case the usufruct was made in violation of the rights
of creditors though he is not obligated to pay the obligation from a mortgage
E. Extinguishment of Usufruct
1. Death of Usufructuary
2. Expiration of the term, fulfillment of the condition
3. Merger of the usufruct and ownership
4. Renunciation of the usufructuary
5. Total loss - insurance (with or without contribution; building or no rebuilding)
6. Termination of the right of right of the person constituting the usufruct
7. Prescription
Readings and Cases:

1. Garret Hardin, Tragedy of the Commons, 162 Science 1243 (1968)
2. Howard Gensler, Property Law as an Optimal Economic Foundation, 35 Washburn L.J.
50, 51-52 (1995)
3. Thomas W. Merrill, Property and the Right to Exclude, 77 Neb. L. Rev. (1998)
4. Margaret Jane Radin, Property and and Personhood, 34 Stan. L. Rev. 957 (1982)
5. Cass R. Sunstein, On Property and Constitutionalism, 14 Cardozo L. Rev. 907 (1993)
Page 64 of 70
6. Harold Demsetz, Toward a Theory of Property Rights, 57 AM. ECON. REV. PAPERS &
PROC. 347 (1967)
7. Henry E. Smith, Property, Equity, and the Rule of Law, June 14, 2013
8. Pierson v. Post, Supreme Court of New York, 3 Cai. R. 175 (1805)
9. Popov v. Hayashi, WL 31833731 Ca. Sup. Ct. (2002)
10. White v. Samsung Electronics, Inc. 971 F.2d 1395
11. White v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc. 508 US 951 (1993) - Dissenting
12. Moore v. Regents of University of California, 793 P2.d 479 (1990), cert. denied, 499 US
936 (1991)
13. Jacque v. Steenberg Homes, Inc. 563 N.W.2d 154 (1997)
14. Pray v. Maretti, 321 N.W.2d 182 (1982)
15. Eyerman v. Mercantile Trust Co. 524 S.W.2d 210 (1975)
16. Leung Yee vs. Strong Machinery (G.R. No. L-11658, February 15, 1918)
17. Standard Oil Co. vs. Jaranillo (44 Phil. 631)
18. Davao Saw Mill vs. Castillo (G.R. No. L-40411, August 7, 1935)
19. Berkenkotter vs. Cu Unjieng, Mabalacat Sugar, and Sheriff of Pampanga G.R. No.
L-41643, July 31, 1935
20. Manarang vs. Ofilada and Esteban (GR No. L-8133, May 18, 1956)
21. GSIS vs. Calsons, Inc. (GR No. L-19867, May 29, 1968)
22. Mindanao Bus Co. vs. City Assessor and Treasurer of CDO (GR No. L-17870,
September 29, 1962)
23. Ago vs. Court of Appeals and Grace Park Engineering (GR No. L-17898, October 31,
1962)
24. Serg’s Product vs. PCI Leasing and Finance Corporation (GR No. 137705, August 22,
2000)
25. Tumalad vs. Vicencio (GR No. L-30173, September 30, 1971)
26. Navarro vs. Pineda, (G.R. No. L-18456, November 30, 1963)
27. Makati Leasing and Finance Corporation vs. Wearever Textile Mills (G.R. No. L-58469
May 16, 1983)
28. Benguet Corporation vs. Central Board of Assessment Appeal (GR No. 106041,
January 29, 1993)
29. Meralco Securities Industrial Corporation vs. Central Board of Assessment Appeal (GR
No. L-47943, May 431, 1982)
Co-Ownership
30. Lilian Sanchez vs. CA and Virginia Teria ([G.R. No. 152766. June 20, 2003)
31. Vda. de Ape vs. CA and Dva de Lumayno, [G.R. No. 133638. April 15, 2005]
32. Spouses Ricardo and Vicenta Pardel vs. Sposes Gaspar and Matilde Bartolome (23
Phil. 450)
33. Longings Javier vs Segundo Javier (6 Phil 493)
34. Enriquez vs. A. S. Watson and Co. (22 Phil., 623),
Page 65 of 70
35. Manuel, Mariano, Pura and Caridad Melencio vs. Dy Tiao Lay (55 Phil. 99)
36. Lopez vs. Martinez (5 Phil. 567)
37. Ramirez vs. Bautista (G.R. No. L-5075 December 1, 1909)
38. Tuazon vs. Tuazon (GR No. L-3404, April 2, 1961)
39. Romana Cortez, et al vs. Florencia Oliva (G.R. No. 10104. February 10, 1916)
40. De Santos vs. Bank of the Philippine Islands (G.R. No. 38544. November 18, 1933.)
41. Garcia de Lara vs. Gonzales de Lara (G.R. No. 1111 May 16, 1903)
POSSESSION
42. Spouses Luciana and Pedro Dalida vs. CA and Agustin Ramos, G.R. No. L-53983
Sept. 30, 1982
43. US vs. Tan Tayco, [G.R. No. 4723. February 8, 1909. ]
44. Telesforo Alo vs. Clodoaldo Rocomora, G.R. No. L-2440, April 27, 1906
45. Ramos vs. Director of Lands (39 Phil 175)
46. Arriola vs. Gomez dela Serna, 14 Phil. 627
47. Bukidnon Doctor’s Hospital vs. MBTC (GR No. 161882, July 8, 2005)
48. Carlos v. Republic of the Philippines 468 SCRA 70`9
49. Escritor vs. IAC 155 SCRA 577
50. Kasilag vs. Roque, et al., G.R. No. 46623, December 7, 1939, En Banc
51. Heirs of Pedro Laurora vs. Sterling Technopark III, GR No. 146815, April 9, 2003
52. Chua v. Court of Appeals, Ramon Ibarra, G.R. No. 109840. January 21, 1999
53. Lorenzo Alburo v. Catalina Villanueva, G.R. No. 3003, January 2,1907
54. MWSS vs. Court of Appeals 143 SCRA 623 (1986)
55. Sideco vs. Pascua, 13 Phil. 342
56. Ortiz vs. Fuentabella, G.R. No. L-8108 , August 22, 1914, En Banc
57. A. Tacas vs. Tobon, G.R. No. L-30240 August 23, 1929, En Banc
58. Gregorio Miraflor vs. CA and Monsalud G.R. No. L-40151-52 April 8, 1986
59. Gabrito vs. CA, G.R. No. 77976 November 24, 1988
60. Pada-Kilario v. Court of Appeals and Silverio Pada 379 Phil. 515, 530, January 19,
2000
61. Leonila Sarmiento v. Hon. Agana and Spouse Lorenzo-Valentino (129 SCRA 122, April
30, 1984)
62. Pedro Pecson v. Court of Appeals and Spouses Nuguid (G.R. No. 115814 May 26,
1995)
63. Rosendo Balucanag v. Hon. Francisco and Richard Stohner, G.R. No. L-33422 May 30,
1983
64. Mariano Floreza v. Maria de Evangelista, G.R. No. L-25462 February 21, 1980
65. Carbonel vs. Court of Appeals, Poncio and Infante (G.R. No. L-29972 January 26,
1976)
66. Alejandro Quemuel v. Angel Olaes, G.R. No. L-11084, April 29, 1961
Page 66 of 70
67. Resuena, et al. vs. Court of Appeals and Juanito Boromeo, Sr., G.R. No. 128338,
March 28, 2005.
68. Ismael & Teresita Macasaet vs. Vicente & Rosario Macasaet, (G.R. Nos. 154391-92,
September 30, 2004)
69. Spouses del Campo and del Canto v. Abesia (G.R. No. L-49219 April 15, 1988)
70. Sarona vs. Villegas
ACQUISITION OF POSSESSION
71. Director of Lands vs. Roman Catholic Bishop of Zamboanga, G.R. No. L-40851 July
31, 1935, EN BANC
72. Director of Lands vs. Roman Catholic Bishop of Manila, G.R. No. L-14869, October 27,
1920, En Banc
73. Margarito Sarona, et al. vs. Felipe Villegas and Ramono Carillo, G.R. No. L-22984,
March 27, 1968, En Banc
74. Pia Del Rosario vs. Juan Lucena, Praxedes Flores and Teresa Verches, G.R. No.
L-3546, September 13, 1907, En Banc
75. US vs. Soriano and Villalobos, G.R. No. 4563, January 19, 1909
76. U.S. vs. Vicente Sotelo, 28 Phil 147
77. Josefa Varela vs. Josephine Finnick, GR No. L-3890, January 2, 1908
LOSS OF POSSESSION
78. US vs. Laurente Rey, G.R. No. L-3326, September 7, 1907
79. Bishop of Cebu vs. Mangaron, G.R. No. 1748, June 1, 1906, En Banc
OTHER CASES ON POSSESSION
80. Roxas et al. v. Mijares, G.R. No. 3823, November 23, 1907)
81. Bago vs. Garcia, G.R. No. 2587. January 8, 1906
82. Heirs of Jumero vs. Lizares, G.R. No. 5051, September 27, 1910
83. Arriola vs. de la Serna, G.R. No. L-5397 December 17, 1909
PRESCRIPTION
84. Nunez et al. vs. GSIS Family Bank, GR No. 163988, November 17, 2005
85. Crisostomo vs. Garcia, Jr., GR No. 164787, January 31, 2006
86. Leonardo vs. Maravilla, GR No. 143369, Nov. 27, 2002
87. Lubos vs. Gulapo, GR No. 139136, January 16, 2002
ACCESSION
88. Barach vs. Talisay-Silay Co., G.R. No. 35223, September 17, 1931
89. Tacas vs. Tobon, G.R. No. L-30240, August 23, 1929
90. Leoncia Liuanag, vs. Yu-Soquian, G.R. No. L-2238, October 19, 1905
91. Government of the Philippines vs. Colegio de San Jose, G.R. No. L-30829, August 28,
1929
92. Cortez vs. City of Manila, G.R. No. L-4012, March 25, 1908
Page 67 of 70
93. Vicente Joven Y Monteverde vs. The Director of Lands, G.R. No. L-4628, May 25,
1953, En Banc
94. Ramon Laznar vs. Director of Lands and Iloilo City, G.R. No. L-31934 July 29, 1977
95. Grande vs. Court of Appeals and Calalung, GR No. L-17652, June 30, 1962
96. Baes vs. Court of Appeals, GR No. 108065, July 06, 1993
97. Mario Ronquillo vs. Court of Appeals, Rosendo del Rosario GR No. L-43346, Marh 20,
1991
98. Panlilio vs. Mercado, GR No. L-18771, March 26, 1923
99. Maximo Jagualing vs. Court of Appeals and Janita Eduave, GR No. 94283, March 04,
1991
INTELLECTUAL CREATION
100. Cheney Brothers v. Doris Silk Corporation (USCA, 2nd Circuit, 35 F.2d 279(1929)
101. International Wire Service v. Associated Press, 248 US 215, 250 (1918)
102. In Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991)
103.Baigent v. Random House Group Limited (2006) EWHC 719 (Ch)
104. Eldread vs Ashcroft
105.Harper vs. Nation Enterprises 471 US 539 (1985)
106. Selle v. Gibb 741 F2d 896, USCA 7th Circuit
107. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. vs. American Honda Motors Co.
108. Diamond v. Chakrabarty (447 US 303, 1980)
109. Larami v Amron
110.Qualitex Co. vs. Jacobson Products, Inc. (1995)
111. Mattel, Inc. v MCA Records
TRESPASS, INTERFERENCE, INJURIOUS USE, QUIETING OF TITLE
112.Bishop of Cebu vs. Mangaron, G.R. No. L-1748, June 1, 1906
113.Jacinto Co v. Rizal Militar and Lilia Sones (G..R. No. 149912)
114.Spouses Pascual v. Spouses Coronel (G.R. No. 159292, 12 July 2007)
115.Spouses Barias v. Heirs Boneo, et al. (G.R. No. 166941, 14 December 2009)]
116.Carbonilla v. Abiera (G.R. No. 177637, 26 July 2010)
117.Canlas v. Tubil (G.R. No. 184285, 25 September 2009)
118.Valentin Cabrera, et al. v. Elizabeth Getaruela, et al. (GR No. 164213, April 21, 2009)
119.Ruiz, Sr. v. Court of Appeal and Honorato Hong, GR No. 121298, July 31, 2001
120.CS Gilchrist vs. EA Cuddy (G.R. No. L-9356, February 18, 1915)
121. So Ping Bun vs. Court of Appeals and Tek Hua Enterprising Corporation (G.R. No.
120554, September 21, 1999)
122. US vs. Luis Toribio, G.R. No. L-5060, January 26, 1910, En Banc
123. US vs. Balbino Villareal, G.R. No. L-9480, November 13, 1914
124. Reman Enterprises, Inc. v. CA, G.R. No. 107671. February 26, 1997
Page 68 of 70
125. Remman Enterprises, Inc. v. CA, G.R. No. 125018. April 6, 2000
126.Bonifacio Nakpil vs. Manila Towers Developement Corporation, G.R. No. 160867,
Sept. 20, 2006
127. Spouses Hipolito vs. Cinco, G.R. No. 174143, November 28, 2011
128.Heirs of Tuazon vs. Court of Appeals, Ma. Luisa Victorio, et al, G.R. No. 125758,
January 20, 2004
129. Mananquil vs. Moico, G.R. No. 180076 , November 21, 2012
DONATION
130. Liguez vs CA, G.R. No. L-11240, December 18, 1957
131.Pirovano, et al. v. De la Rama Steamship Co. , G.R. No. L-5377, December 29, 1954
132.The Diocese of Bacolod vs. COMELEC, GR No. 205728, Jan. 21, 2015
133.Castro vs Court of Appeals, G.R. No. L-20122, April 28, 1969
134.Alejandro vs. Geraldez, G.R. No. L-33849 August 18, 1977
135.Laureta vs Mata, G.R. No. L-19740, March 22, 1923
136.Balaqui vs Dongso, G.R. No. L-31161, October 28, 1929
137.Lagazo vs Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 112796. March 5, 1998
138.Roman Catholic Archbishop vs CA , G.R. No. 77425, June 19, 1991
139.Quijada vs court of appeals, G.R. No. 126444. December 4, 1998
LIMITATION - LAND USE, ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
140. Pasong Bayabas Farmers Association, Inc. v. CA, G.R. NO. 142359. May 25, 2004
141.Sta. Rosa Realty Development Corporation v. Amante, G.R. Nos. 112526 and 118838,
March 16, 2005
142.Remman Enterprises, Inc. v. CA, G.R. No. 132073, September 27, 2006
143.Buklod nang Magbubukid sa Lupaing Ramos, Inc. v. E.M. Ramos and Sons, Inc., G.R.
No. 131481, March 16, 2011
144.Natalia Realty, Inc. v. Department of Agriculture, G.R. No. 103302 August 12, 1993
145.Heirs of Deleste vs. Land Bank of the Philippines, G.R. No. 169913, June 8, 2011
146.United BF Homeowners Association vs. City Mayor of Parañaque, et al., G.R. No.
141010 , February 7, 2007
147.Social Justice Society vs. Mayor Atienza, G.R. No. 156052, February 13, 2008
148.Ortigas & Company vs. Feati Bank and Trust Company, G.R. No. L-24670 December
14, 1979
149. Cariday Investment Corp. vs. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 83358 August 2, 1989
150.Village of Euclid vs. Amber Realty, 272 US 365 (1926)
151.AVR, Inc. v. City of St. Louis Park, 256 US 1114 (1999)
152.Smith vs. City of Little Rock, 279 Ark. 4 (1983)
153.Stoyanoff v. Berkeley, Supreme Court of Missouri (458 S.W.2d 305, 1970)
154.City of Ladue vs. Gilleo, 512 US 43 (1994)
155.Moore vs. City of East Cleveland, 431 US 494 (1977)
Page 69 of 70
156.Associated Home Builders of the Greater Eastbay, Inc. vs. City of Livermore, 557 P.2d
473 (1976)
157.Just vs. Marinette County, 201 N.W.2d 761 (1972)
158.United States vs. Monsanto, 858, F.2d 160 (1988)
159.Babbit v. Sweet Home Chapter of Communities for Greater Oregon 515 US 687
(1995)
160.American Electric Power Co. Inc. v. Connecticut, 131 S. Ct. 2527 (2011)
TAXATION, POLICE POWER, EMINENT DOMAIN
161.Manosca vs. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 106440. January 29, 1996
162.Del Castillo v. Orciga, CA-G.R. SP No. 66122. November 26, 2001
163. Association of Small Land Owners vs. Secretary of DAR, G.R. No. 78742 July 14,
1989
Page 70 of 70

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Property - Discussion Guide for Students

Atty. Erwin L. Tiamson

1. How possession is acquired (Art. 531) 24

2. Property is a system of managing resources

3. Libertarians, Progressives, and Efficiency Theorist view of property

1Garret Hardin, Tragedy of the Commons, 162 Science 1243 (1968)

4. Lawyer’s view of property:

• Property as an institution embraces these many forms and different

1. Issues and Concern

3. Utilitarian / Economic Theory

• Property is an institution for “internalizing externalities” associated with

8 Cass R. Sunstein, On Property and Constitutionalism, 14 Cardozo L. Rev. 907 (1993)

D. Legal Theories on Property

• Property is closely related to rule of law.

3. Property as Law of Things

12 William Blackstone, Commentary on the Laws of England

E. Property under the Civil Code

2. Rights Over Things

(1) Section 110. Patents or certificates issued under the provision

a) In its strict sense

b) Exercise of Rights of Ownership under Art. 427 of the Civil Code

b) Right of Enclosure and Fences (Art. 430)

e) Resort to judicial process if possession is loss

a) General Statement under Art. 428 of the Civil Code

property of others nor injurious to the rights of the community. a claim of

c) 1987 Constitution, Article XII, National Economy and Patrimony

(1) Use of Property Has a Social Function

(2) Distributive Justice

2. How is Possession Exercise

2. Who can acquire possession

f) Possession of movables in good faith is equivalent to a title, however, the

2. Rule upon Recovery of Possession by the Lawful Possessor

d) Possession in Good Faith

(2) Effects of Possession in Good Faith

(a) On the Fruits

e) Possession in Bad Faith

(2) Effects of Possession in Bad Faith

(a) On the Fruits

3. Acquisitive and Extinctive Prescription

c) Kinds of Acquisitive Prescription

d) Period of possession required

(1) Ordinary Prescription

(2) Extra-ordinary Prescription

(5) Rule on Computing time (Art. 1138, NCC)

(a) Tacking of possession - the present possessor may complete the

C. Accession in Immovable Property

2. Rule on Builder, Planter and Sower on Lands of Another

3. Rule on Persons Providing Materials to Owners

D. Rules on Accession in Movable Property

4. Rule on Acquisition if there is Bad Faith (Art. 470, NCC)

5. Rule on owners of materials

6. Rules on Third Persons

• Indemnification of other co-owners by the acquiring co-owner but if there

H. Effect of Partition to Third Persons (Art. 499)

L. Special rules on co-ownership of buildings with different Stories

VI. Trespass, Interference, Nuisance and The Right to

property”. In acts of trespass, the trespasser should have no legal right on

3. Remedies in Trespass in Real Properties

(Forceable Entry) or a landlord, vendor, vendee or other person

(b) When government infrastructure projects with available ending are

C. Nuisance and Interference to Property Rights

d) Modern legislations on the environment is an adaptation of the doctrine of