WHAT IS OWNERSHIP?

 Ownership is acquired by occupation and by intellectual creation.

 Ownership and other real rights over property are acquired and
transmitted by law, by donation, by testate and intestate succession, and
in consequence of certain contracts, by tradition.
 Ownership may also be acquired by means of prescription

T here are three kinds of things, depending on the nature of their

ownership:

a. res nullius (belonging to no one)

b. res communes (belonging to everyone)
c. res alicujus (belonging to someone)

Res Nullius
These things belong to no one, and the reason is that they have not yet
been appropriated, like fish still swimming in the ocean, or because they
have been abandoned (res derelictae) by the owner with the intention of no
longer owning them.
Res Communes
While in particular no one owns common property, still in another sense, res
communes are really owned by everybody in that their use and enjoyment are
given to all of mankind.
Examples would be the air we breathe, the wind, sunlight, and starlight.
Res Alicujus
These are objects, tangible or intangible, which are owned privately, either in
a collective or individual capacity.
Examples: shares of stock, parcel of land.
Under the Civil Code:
“Ownership is acquired by occupation and by intellectual creation.
Ownership and other real rights over property are acquired and transmitted by law, by
donation, by testate and intestate succession, and in consequence of certain contracts,
by tradition.
They may also be acquired by means of prescription.
Thus, ownership may be acquired by:
I. Original modes, which isindependent of any pre-existing or preceding title or
right of another. It includes:

1.

1. Occupation
Things appropriable by nature that are without an
owner, such as animals that are the object of hunting

and fishing, hidden treasure, and abandoned movables,

are acquired by occupation.
However, the ownership of a piece of land cannot be
acquired by occupation.
2. Creation or work (intellectual creation)

II. Derivative modes, when somebody else was the owner before. It includes:

1.

1. Succession or through inheritance;

2. Donation, as when a parcel of land is given
gratuitously and accepted and in a public instrument;
3. Prescription, as when ownership of land is acquired
by adverse possession for the period of time required
under the law, provided the necessary legal
conditions or requisites are present;
4. Law
e.g accession, fruits naturally falling on
adjacent land
5. Tradition, as a consequence of certain contracts (like
the contract of sale, barter, assignment, simple loan
or mutuum).
A perfected sale does not transmit ownership.
It is the delivery or tradition which conveys
ownership.