1 REVIEWER: CCP BOOK II PROPERTY, OWNERSHIP, AND ITS MODIFICATIONS Source: CCP Book II, Paras 1. What is property?

Under the Civil Code, property, considered as an object, is that which is, or may be, appropriated. Considered as a subject or course in law, property is that branch of civil law which classifies and defines the different kinds of appropriable objects, provides for their acquisition and loss, and in general, treats of the nature and consequences of real rights. 2. Distinguish thing from property. Thing is broader in scope for it includes both appropriable and non-appropriable objects, while property includes only appropriable objects, either tangible or intangible. [NOTE: Property involves not only material objects but also intangible things, like rights or credits.] 3. What are the classifications of things? Discuss. There 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 refers to things belonging to no one and the reason is that they have not yet been appropriated or because they have been abandoned (res derelictae) by the owner with the intention of no longer owning them. Res communes refers to things owned by everybody in that their use and enjoyment are given to all of mankind. Res alicujus are objects, tangible or intangible, which are owned privately, either in a collective or individual capacity.

4. What are the classifications of properties? Properties may be classified from different viewpoints. (a) Mobility and non-mobility 1) movable or personal property 2) immovable or real property (b) Ownership 1) public dominion or ownership 2) private dominion or ownership (c) Alienability 1) within the commerce of man 2) outside the commerce of man (d) Existence 1) present property (res existentes) 2) future property (res future) (e) Materiality or Immateriality 1) tangible or corporeal 2) intangible or incorporeal (f) Dependence or Importance 1) Principal 2) Accessory (g) Capability of Substitution 1) fungible 2) non-fungible (h) Nature or Definitenss 1) generic 2) specific (i) Whether in the Custody of the Court or Free 1) in custodial egis (in the custody of the court) 2) free property 5. What are the characteristics of property? (a) utility for the satisfaction of moral or 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). (Hence, the human hair becomes property only when it is detached from the owner.) 6. How do you classify property according to its nature and according to its ownership? According to its nature, property may be either: 1

2 (1) Immovable or real property, or (2) Movable or personal property. (Art. 414, NCC) According to its ownership, it may be either: (1) Of pubic dominion; or (2) Of private ownership. (Art. 419, NCC) 7. Discuss the importance of the classification of property into immovables and movables. The importance of such classification is from the fact that different provisions of the law govern the acquisition, possession, disposition, loss, and registration of immovables and movables. For example, a donation of real property, like land, must be in a public instrument, otherwise the alienation will not be valid even as between the parties to the transaction (Art. 749). Upon the other hand, the donation of a movable property, like an automobile, needs only to be in public instrument (Art. 748). Another instance is that the ownership of real property may be acquired by prescription although there is bad faith, in thirty (30) years (Art. 1137); whereas, acquisition in bad faith of personal property needs only eight (8) years. (Art. 1132) ***The classification in Art. 414 is not complete in that there should be a third kind the mixed or the semiimmovable. This refers to movable properties (like machines) which under certain conditions, may be considered immovable for certain specified purposes. This clarification, however, does not affect the classification indeed of properties only into two, immovable or movable; for as has been intimated, a machine is, under certain conditions, immovable.*** ***Bienes immuebles immovables; bienes muebles movables//Justinian res corporales, res immobiles, res mobiles*** [According to the Supreme Court in the case of Standard Oil Co. of New York v. Jaranillo, 44 Phil 630, under certain conditions, it is undeniable that the parties to a contract may, by agreement, treat as personal property that which by nature would be real property. #application of estoppel #for purposes of taxation. However, it would seem under the Civil Code, it is only the LAW which may consider certain real property (like growing crops) as personal property (for the purposes of making a chattel mortgage). (See Art. 416, par. 2)] 8. Distinguish reclassification from 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, while the latter is the act changing the current use of a piece of agricultural land into some other use as approved by the Dept. of Agrarian Reform (DAR). [Ludo & Luym Development Corp. v. Barretto, 471 SCRA 391]. 9. Is the human body real or personal property? It is submitted that the human body, whether alive, or dead, is neither real nor personal property, for it is not even property at all, in that it generally cannot be appropriated. While a human being is alive, he cannot, as such, be the object of a contract, for he is considered outside the commerce of man. He may, of course, offer to another the use of various parts of his body, even the entire body itself in obligations requiring demonstration of strength or posing in several ways, as when he poses for a painter or sculptor. He may donate part of his blood, may even sell part of his hair, but he cannot sell his body. 10. Distinguish interest and title. The term interests is broader and more comprehensive than the word title and its definition in a narrow sense by lexicographers as any right in the nature of property less than title. It is practically synonymous, however, with the word estate which is totality of interest which a person has from absolute ownership down to naked possession. ***An interest in land is the legal concern of a person in the thing or property, or in the right to some benefits or uses from which the property is inseparable.

3 Chapter I 11. Define immovable property. The law does not define what properties are immovable; they are merely enumerated. While it is true that the dictionary defines immobile property as that which may be fixed, settled, or fastened, and while in general, immovable property is that which is fixed in a definite place, still there are many exceptions to this general criterion. The etymological meaning should, therefore, yield to legal or juridical significance attached to the term by the law. (See 3 Manresa 18). 12. What are the immovable properties enumerated by law? The following are immovable property: (1) Land, buildings, roads and construction 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 their 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, through floating, are intended by their nature and object to remain at a fixed place on the river, lake, or coast; (10) Contracts for public works, and servitudes and other real rights over immovable property. 13. What are the different classes of immovables? The different classes of immovable are: (1) Immovables by nature, or those which cannot be moved from place to place, such as those mentioned in Nos. 1 (with respect to land and roads), 2 and 8 in Art. 415 of the NCC. (2) Immovables by incorporation, or those which are attached to an immovable in such a manner as to form an integral part thereof, such as those mentioned in Nos. 1 (except land and roads), 2, 3, and 4 of Art. 415. (3) Immovables by destination, or those which are placed in an immovable for the use, exploitation or perfection of such immovable, such as those mentioned in Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9 of Art. 415. (4) Immovables by analogy, or those which are considered immovables by operation of law, such as those mentioned in No. 10 of Art. 415. 14. May a house built on rented land be the object of a mortgage? Yes, in a real mortgage (real estate mortgage). It may even be the subject of a chattel mortgage provided two conditions are present; namely, that the parties to the contract so agree, and that no innocent third party will be prejudiced.