Preliminary Provisions

Definitions
 
Every right (derecho) has two elements - subjects [persons] and objects [properties].
cosas
bienes
 
Classification of Things
 
There are 3 kinds of things, depending on the nature of their ownership:
 
1. Res Nullius 
2. Res Communes 
3. Res Alicujus 
 
Res Nullius
 
res derelictae
ferae naturae
 
Res Communes
 
Res Alicujus
 
Classification of Property
Properties may be classified from different viewpoints. Among the most important bases are the
following:
Essential Nature
Tangible or corporeal
Intangible or incorporeal
Designation
Generic
Specific
Capability of Substitution
Fungible
Non-fungible
Aptitude to Repeated Use
Consumable
Non-consumable
Divisibility
Divisible
Indivisible
Existence In Point of Time
Present property (res existentes)
Future property (res futurae)
Identification and Publicity
Registrable
Nonregistrable
Contents and Constitution
Singular
Simple
Compound
Universal
In fact
In law
Dependence or Importance
Principal
Accessory
Alienability
Within the commerce of man
Outside the commerce of man
By nature
By destination
Whether in the Custody of the Court
In custodia legis
"Free" property
Ownership
Public dominion
Patrimonial ownership
Private ownership
Mobility and Non-mobility
Movable / Personal Property
Immovable / Real Property
 
Characteristics of Property
Utility
Individuality or substantivity
Susceptibility of appropriation
 
Art. 414. All things which are or may be the object of
appropriation are considered either:
(1) Immovable or real property; or
(2) Movable or personal property.
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. (334a)
 
Classes of Immovables
1. Immovable by nature - Paragraphs 1 & 8
2. Immovable by incorporation - Paragraphs 2, 3, and 7
3. Immovable by destination or purpose - Paragraphs 4, 5, 6 and 9
4. Immovable by analogy or by law - Paragraph 10

Movable Property- (by nature)

Art. 416. The following things are deemed to be personal
property:
 
(1) Those movables susceptible of appropriation which are
not included in the preceding article;
(2) Real property which by any special provision of law is
considered as personal property;
(3) Forces of nature which are brought under control by
science; and
(4) In general, all things which can be transported from
place to place without impairment of the real property to
which they are fixed. (335a)
 
Test to Determine Whether Property is Movable
If the property is capable of being carried from place to place (test by description);
If such change in location can be made without injuring the real property to which it may in the
meantime be attached (test by description);
If finally, the object is not one of those enumerated or included in Art. 415 (test by exclusion).
Test by exclusion is superior to the test by description.
 
Special Provision
Act No. 1508, the Chattel Mortgage Law, recognizes that growing crops are personal property and may
be the object of chattel mortgage. Section 7 of said law in part provides: "If growing crops be mortgaged
the mortgage may contain an agreement stipulating that the mortgagor binds himself properly to tend,
care for and protect the crop while growing x x x."
 
Other Incorporeal Movables
A patent, a copyright, the right to an invention - these are intellectual properties which should be
considered as personal property.
 
Art. 417. The following are also considered as personal
property: (by analogy)
 
(1) Obligations and actions which have for their object
movables or demandable sums; and
(2) Shares of stock of agricultural, commercial and
industrial entities, although they may have real estate.
(336a)
 
Art. 418. Movable property is either consumable or
nonconsumable. To the first class belong those movables
which cannot be used in a manner appropriate to their nature
without their being consumed; to the second class belong all
the others. (337)
 
Consumable - this cannot be used according to its nature without its being consumed.
Non-consumable - any other kind of movable property.