Property

Title One: Classification of Property

Property- All Things which are or may be the object of appropriation.

Things v. Property.
Things- Both appropriable and not appropriable
Property- Only those appropriable.

Rationale of distinguishing between things and properties: In case of non-appropriables, it is not

covered under Property Laws.

Classification of things:
res N-C-A

Res Nullius “Belonging to no one”: e.g. Fish still Swimming in the ocean
Res Communes “Belonging to everyone”: e.g. Air, Wind, Sunlight
Res Alicujus: “Belonging to Someone”: e.g. your book, your share of stock, your parcel of land.

Classification of Property

A. Mobility and non- mobility: is it capable of being transported/moved from one place to
another. Ex. Land is an Real property because it is adhered to the soil. However, if the soil was
shoved the land becomes a personal property
B. Ownership: if it is own by the state and capable of being owned by private owner.
C. Alienability: If it is outside the commerce of man
D. Existence: Res Existentes (Present Property), Res Futurae ( Future Property)
E. Materiality or Immateriality: tangible or Intangible
F. Dependence or Importance: Capability to stand on its own
G. Capabilty of Substitution: Capability of Substitution
H. Nature or Definiteness: if it refers to a group/class, or referring to a single
I. Whether in the Custody of the Court or Free: If it is not free or not in Custodia Legis.

Characteristics of PROPERTIES:
A. Utility for the satisfaction or moral and economic wants
B. Susceptibility of appropriation
C. Individuality or Substantivity (i.e. it can exist by itself, and not merely as a part of a whole)

ART.414 All Things which are or may be the object of appropriation are considered either:
1. Immovable or Real Property
2. Movable or Personal Property

The Importance of the classification of property into real property

It is importance of the classification of property is the law. The personal and real property
are governed by different provisions from its acquisition, possession, disposition, loss, and
registration of immovable and movable.

Examples:

Donations:
When donating a real property, it must be in a public instrument, otherwise the alienation will
not be valid even as between the parties to the transaction (Art. 749) On the other hand, the
donation of an TOYOTA automobile (personalty), worth P1.8 million, needs only to be in a private
instrument (Art.748)

Ownership through Prescription (Bad Faith):

Real Property: 30 Years
Personal Property: 8 Years

Reclassification v Conversion
Reclassification- is the act of specifying how agricultural lands shall be utilized for non-
agricultural uses such as residential, industrial, or commercial as embodied in the land use plan,
subject to the requirements and procedures for land use conversion.
Conversion- is the act of changing the current use of a piece of agricultural land into some other
use a approved by the DAR.

The Human Body

The human body whether dead or alive, is neither real nor personal property, for it is not
even property at al, in that it generally cannot be appropriated.

Organ Donation Act of 1991 otherwise known as RA 7170 as amended on Feb. 24, 1992 “An Act
Authorizing the Legacy or Donation of All or Part of a Human Body After Death for Specified
Purposes.” This means that all part of a human body may only occur after a person’s “death”
(i.e., the irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions of the entire brain,
including the brain system. (Sec. 2[j], RA 7170, as amended).

Person Who May Execute a Legacy

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

Who may Execute a Donation?

Any of the following persons, in the order of priority stated hereunder, in the absence of
any actual notice of contrary intentions by the decedent or actual notice of opposition by a
member of the immediate family of the decedent, may donate all or any part if the decedent’s
body for any purpose specified, thus:
1. Spouse;
2. Son or daughter of legal age;
3. Either parent;
4. Brother or sister of legal age; or
5. Guardian over the person of the decedent at the time of his death

Manner of Executing a Legacy

Such may be made by a will, and with said legacy only become effective upon a testator’s
death without waiting for probate of the will. A legacy of all part of the human body may also be
and in any document other than a will. The legacy becomes effective upon the death of the
testator and shall be respected by and binding upon the testator’s:
1. Executor;
2. Administrator;
3. Heirs;
4. Assign;
5. Successors-in-interest
6. All member of the family
International Sharing of Human Organ or Tissues:

Such “shall be made only thru exchange programs duly-approved by the Dept. Health . This
is provided that foreign organ or tissue ‘bank storage facilities’ and similar establishments grant
reciprocal rights to their Philippine counterparts to draw human organs or tissues at any time.”

Rules and Regulations

It is the Sec. of Health who “shall endeavor to persuade all health professionals, both
government and private, to make an appeal for human organ donation”.

IMMOVABLE PROPERTY

Art. 415. The following are immovable property:

(1) Land, buildings, roads and constructions of all kinds adhered to the soil;
(2) Trees, plants, and growing fruits, while they are attached to the land or form an
integral part of an immovable;
(3) Everything attached to an immovable in a fixed manner, in such a way that it cannot be
separated therefrom without breaking the material or deterioration of the object;
(4) Statues, reliefs, paintings or other objects for use or ornamentation, placed in
buildings or on lands by the owner of the immovable in such a manner that it reveals the
intention to attach them permanently to the tenements;
(5) Machinery, receptacles, instruments or implements intended by the owner of the
tenement for an industry or works which may be carried on in a building or on a piece of land,
and which tend directly to meet the needs of the said industry or works;
(6) Animal houses, pigeon-houses, beehives, fish ponds or breeding places of similar
nature, in case their owner has placed them or preserves them with the intention to have
them permanently attached to the land, and forming a permanent part of it; the animals in
these places are included;
(7) Fertilizer actually used on a piece of land;
(8) Mines, quarries, and slag dumps, while the matter thereof forms part of the bed, and
waters either running or stagnant;
(9) Docks and structures which, though floating, are intended by their nature and object
to remain at a fixed place on a river, lake, or coast;
(10) Contracts for public works, and servitudes and other real rights over immovable
property.

What is immovable property?

The law does not define what is immovable property; they merely enumerated what
should be considered as immovable property. But as defined by some dictionaries,
immovable property are those firmly fixed, settled, or fastened. In general, immovable
property are those fixed in a definite place. However, there are some properties that may fit
as immovable property but the law excepts such property as immovables.

Academic Classification of Real Properties

a. Real Property by nature (like trees and plants)
b. Real Property by incorporation (like a building)
c. Real Property by destination or purpose (like machinery placed by the owner of a
tenement on it for direct use in an industry to be carried on therein)
d. Real Property by analogy (like the right of usufruct, or a contract for public works.)
Par. 1: ‘ Land, buildings, roads, and constructions of all kinds adhered to the soil.’

Land is immovable by nature. However, a shoveful of land should be considered personal

property, since this no longer adheres to the soil. If land is rented, it is still immovable.

Building are considered immovable provided they are more or less of a permanent
structure, substantially adhering to the land, and not mere superimpositions on the land like
barong-barongs or quonset fixtures and provided there is the intent of permanent annexations.

Leung Yee v. Strong Machinery Co., 37 Phil. 644

The mere fact that the parties decided to deal with the building as personal property does
not change its character as real property. Thus, neither the original registry in the chattel
mortgage registry, nor the annotation in said registry of the sale of the mortgaged property had
any effect on the building.

A house built on rented land can be the object of a mortgage. It may even be the subject of a
chattel mortgage provided two conditions are present:
1. The Parties to the contract so agree
2. No innocent third party will be prejudiced.

The duty of the Registrar of Property is ministerial in nature. When parties present to the
registrar of property a document of chattel mortgage, the registrar must record it as such even if
in his opinion, the object of the contract is real property. The ROP’s job is not to identify the
property if it belongs to real or personal property. Hence, their function is to register chattel
mortgages which is purely ministerial.

Constructions of All Kinds

Though the law says “constructions of all kinds adhered to the soil,” it is understood that
the attachment must be more or less permanent.

Par 2: ‘Trees, plants and growing crops, while they are attached to the land or form an integral
part of an immovable.’

No matter what their size may be, trees and plants are considered real property, by nature if
they are the spontaneous products of the soil, and by incorporation, if they were planted thru
labor. But the moment they are detached or uprooted from the land, they become personal
property, except in the case of uprooted timber, if the land is timber land. Also, trees blown by a
typhoon still remain part of the land upon which they rest, and should be considered real
property.

If a parcel of land was registered, the trees and plants annexed to the land are parts thereof,
and unless rights or interests in such trees or plants are claimed in the registration proceedings
by others, they become the property of the person to whom the land is adjudicated.

Growing crops, by express codal provisions, are considered real property by incorporation.
Moreover, under the ROC, growing crops are attached in the same was as real property.
However, under the chattel mortgage law, growing crops may be considered as personal
property, and may thus be the subject of chattel mortgage. Moreover, a sale of growing crops
should be considered a sale of personal property because it must be understood that the crops
should be gathered for the purpose of selling. Hence, it is not in the fixed state/manner.
 Sibal v. Valdez, 50 Phil. 512
growing sugar cane is considered personal property and not real property and is subject to
attachment and sale. Act No. 1508, the Chattel Mortgage Law, provides that all personal property
shall be subject to mortgage. At common law all annual crops which are raised by yearly manurance
and labor and essentially owe their existence to cultivation may be levied on as personal property
Growing crops on Another’s Land

Inasmuch as the law makes no distinction, growing crops whether on one’s land or on
another’s, as in the case of a usufructuary, a possessor or a tenant, should be considered real
property as long as it is still attached to the land. However, once they have been severed, they
become personal property.

Par. 3: ‘Everything attached to an immovable in a fixed manner, in such a way that it cannot be
separated therefrom without breaking the material or deterioration of the object.’

Under this paragraph, for the incorporated thing to be considered real property, the injury
or breakage or deterioration in case of separation, must be SUBSTANTIAL.

Ex: A fixed fire escape stairway firmly embedded in the walls of a house, an aqueduct, or a
sewer, or a well.

Par. 4: ‘Statutes, reliefs, paintings, or other objects, for use or ornamentation, placed in buildings
or on land by the owner of the immovable in such a manner that it reveals the intention to
attach them permanently to the tenements.’

Ex: A fixed statue in the garden of a house, a permanent painting on the ceiling, a picture
embedded in the concrete walls of a house, a rug or carpet fastened to the floor, as in the case of
wall to wall carpeting.

NOTE: A PC or a picture hanging on the wall should be considered chattel.

The object must be placed by the owner of the immovable and not necessarily by the owner
of the object.

Par. 5: Machinery, receptacles, instruments, or implements intended by the owner of the

tenement for an industry or works which may be carried on in a building or on a piece of land,
and which tend directly to meet the needs of the said industry or works.’

Essential Requisites:

1. The placing must be made by the owner of the tenement, his agent, or duly authorized
legal representative.
2. The industry or works must be carried on in the building or on the land. A transportation
business is not carried on in a building or in the compound.
3. The machines, etc., must tend directly to meet the needs of said industry or works.
4. The machines must be essential and principal elements in the industry, and not merely
incidental.

Par.5 refers to real property by destination or purpose.

If the machine is still in the building, but is no longer used in the industry conducted therein,
the machine reverts to the condition of a chattel.
 Examples of the machinery, receptacles, instruments, implements.

1. Machine placed in a sugar central( and therefor, if the central has already been the
subject of a real estate mortgage, the machines become subject also to such mortgage)
2. Machines attached to concrete foundations of buildings in a fixed manner such that they
cannot be separated therefrom without unbolting the same and cutting some of their wooden
supports.

Davao Sawmill Co. v. Castillo, 61 Phil. 709

As a rule, the machinery should be considered as personal, if it was not placed on the land
by the owner of said land. Immobilization by destination or purpose cannot generally be made by
a person whose possession of the property is only temporary, otherwise we will be forced to
presume that he intended to give the property permanently away in favor of the owner of the
premises.

Par 6: ‘Animal houses, pigeon-houses, beehives, fishponds or breeding places of similar nature, in
case their owner has placed them or preserves them with the intention to have them
permanently attached to the land, and forming a permanent part of it; the animals in these
places are included.