Case Name A. A.

ADDISON, plaintiff-appellant,

vs.

MARCIANA FELIX and BALBINO TIOCO, defendants-

appellees

Docket Number | Date G.R. No. L-12342 August 3, 1918

Ponente FISHER, J.

Petitioner
A. A. ADDISON, plaintiff-appellant,

Respondents
MARCIANA FELIX and BALBINO TIOCO, defendants-
appellees

Case Summary By a public instrument dated June 11, 1914, the

plaintiff sold to the defendant Marciana Felix, four
parcels of land. The defendant Felix paid, at the time
of the execution of the deed, the sum of P3,000 on
account of the purchase price, and bound herself to
pay the remainder in installments.

In January, 1915, the vendor, A. A. Addison, filed suit

in Court of First Instance of Manila to compel
Marciana Felix to make payment of the first
installment. The defendant, jointly with her husband,
answered the complaint and alleged by way of special
defense that the plaintiff had absolutely failed to
deliver to the defendant the lands that were the
subject matter of the sale, notwithstanding the
demands made upon him for this purpose.

Doctrines
It is not enough to confer upon the purchaser the
ownership and the right of possession. The thing
sold must be placed in his control.

Trigger words/Phrase

RELEVANT FACTS
4 parcels of land as describe in a public instrument was subject of a contract of sale
between the petitioner and the defendant. Defendant paid 3000 upon the execution
of deeds and promised to pay 2000 on July 15, 1914 and another 5000 (30) days
after the issuance of her certificate of title

The contract was stipulated as follows:

That the defendant is to pay P10 within ten years for trees in bearing and P5 for
trees not in bearing with the condition that it will not exceed the amount of P85,000.

That the purchaser shall deliver 25% of the value of the products "from the moment
she takes possession of them until the Torrens certificate of title be issued in her
favor."

Further stipulated was that "within one year from the date of the certificate of title in
favor of Marciana Felix, this latter may rescind the present contract of purchase and
sale, in which case Marciana Felix shall be obliged to return to me, A. A. Addison,
the net value of all the products of the four parcels sold, and I shall obliged to return
to her, Marciana Felix, all the sums that she may have paid me, together with
interest at the rate of 10 per cent per annum."

In 1915, Addison filed a suit to compel the defendant to pay him the P2000 with
interest as in the accordance of the terms of the contract. However, in a form of
special defense, Felix alleges that the petitioner failed to do his obligation of the
contract by failing to deliver the parcels of land. That out of the 4 parcels of land only
2 of it where delivered and that 2/3 of the other half were in the possession of a third
person. She then filed for a declaration of the rescission of the contract, whereby she
prayed that petitioner return her P3000 plus interest and indemnity

Trial Court ruled in favor of defendants, on the grounds that the plaintiff failed to
deliver the lands and in accordance to their stipulation that ". . . within one year from
the date of the certificate of title in favor of Marciana Felix, this latter may rescind the
present contract of purchase and sale . . . ."

Appellate Court disagreed, alleging that the right to elect to rescind the contract was
subject to a condition, namely, the issuance of the title, which in this case has not yet
been fulfilled.
 RATIO DECIDENDI

ISSUE/S RATIO

Whether or not
delivery of a Public The Code imposes upon the vendor the obligation to deliver
Instrument is the thing sold. The thing is considered to be delivered when
equivalent to the it is placed "in the hands and possession of the vendee."
delivery of the subject (Civ. Code, art. 1462.) It is true that the same article
matter of the sale. declares that the execution of a public instruments is
equivalent to the delivery of the thing which is the object of
NO the contract, but, in order that this symbolic delivery may
produce the effect of tradition, it is necessary that the
vendor shall have had such control over the thing sold that,
at the moment of the sale, its material delivery could have
been made. It is not enough to confer upon the purchaser
the ownership and the right of possession. The thing sold
must be placed in his control. When there is no impediment
whatever to prevent the thing sold passing into the tenancy
of the purchaser by the sole will of the vendor, symbolic
delivery through the execution of a public instrument is
sufficient. But if, notwithstanding the execution of the
instrument, the purchaser cannot have the enjoyment and
material tenancy of the thing and make use of it himself or
through another in his name, because such tenancy and
enjoyment are opposed by the interposition of another will,
then fiction yields to reality — the delivery has not been
effected.

RULING
The execution of a public instrument is sufficient for the purposes of the
abandonment made by the vendor; but it is not always sufficient to permit of
the apprehension of the thing by the purchaser.

It is evident, then, in the case at bar, that the mere execution of the
instrument was not a fulfillment of the vendors' obligation to deliver the
thing sold, and that from such non-fulfillment arises the purchaser's right to
demand, as she has demanded, the rescission of the sale and the return of
the price. (Civ. Code, arts. 1506 and 1124.)
Inasmuch as the rescission is made by virtue of the provisions of law and
not by contractual agreement, it is not the conventional but the legal interest
that is demandable.

It is therefore held that the contract of purchase and sale entered into by
and between the plaintiff and the defendant on June 11, 1914, is rescinded,
and the plaintiff is ordered to make restitution of the sum of P3,000 received
by him on account of the price of the sale, together with interest thereon at
the legal rate of 6 per annum from the date of the filing of the complaint until
payment, with the costs of both instances against the appellant. So ordered