Property: Title I — Classification of Property, Preliminary Provisions

 PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS 

(1) Definition of ‘Property’ in the Civil Code 

• Under the Civil Code, property, considered as an object, is that which is, or may be, appropriated. (See Art. 414). 

(2) Definition of ‘Property’ as a Subject in a Law Course  (KAO-AL-NCRR)

• Considered as a subject or course in law, property is that branch of civil law which:

1. classifies and defines the different kinds of appropriable objects, 
2. provides for their acquisition and loss, and 
3. in general, treats of the nature and consequences of real rights. 

• NOTE: Every right (derecho) has two elements — 

1. subjects (persons) and 
2. objects (properties). 

• Since Book I of the Civil Code deals with Persons, it is logical that Property should be the subject matter of Book II.

(3) ‘Thing’ Distinguished from ‘Property’ 

•  As used in the Civil Code, the word “thing” is apparently synonymous with the word “property.’’ 
• However, technically, “thing” is broader in scope for it includes both appropriable and non-appropriable objects. 
• The planets, the stars, the sun for example, are “things’’ (cosas), but since we cannot appropriate them, they are not technically “property” (bienes). 
• Air, in general, is merely a “thing,” but under certain conditions, as when a portion of it is placed in a container, it may be considered as property. 
• Property involves not only material objects but also intangible things, like rights or credits.

(4) Classification of Things (NCA)

• There are three kinds of things, depending on the nature of their ownership:

1. res nullius (belonging to no one) 
2. res communes (belonging to everyone) 
3. 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. 
• Other examples include wild animals (ferae naturae), wild birds, and pebbles lying on the seashore. 
• 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. 
• And precisely because they can be owned, they really should be considered “property.” 
• Examples: your book, your shares of stock, your parcel of land.

(5) Classification of Property (MOA-EMD-CNC)

• Properties may be classified from different viewpoints. 

1. Mobility and non-mobility (MI)
1. movable or personal property (ex. car) 
2. immovable or real property (ex. land) 
2. Ownership (PP)
1. public dominion or ownership (ex. rivers) 
2. private dominion or ownership (ex. fountain pen) 
3. Alienability (WO)
1. within the commerce of man (ex. objects of contracts or judicial transactions)
2. outside the commerce of man (ex. prohibited drugs) 
4. Existence (PF)
1. present property (res existentes) 
2. future property (res futurae) 
• Both present and future property, like a harvest, may be the subject of sale but generally not the subject of a donation. 
• A person cannot donate property that they do not currently own or have the right to dispose of.
5. Materiality or Immateriality (TI)
1. tangible or corporeal
• objects which can be seen or touched, like the paper on which is printed a P1,000 Bangko Sentral Note
2. intangible or incorporeal
• rights or credits, like the credit represented by a P1,000 Bangko Sentral Note 
• The Philippine peso bills when attempted to be exported may be deemed to have been taken out of domestic circulation as legal tender, and may therefore be treated as a commodity. 
• Hence, bills carried in excess of that allowed by the Bangko Sentral may be forfeited under Sec. 1363(f) of the Revised Administrative Code. 
6. Dependence or Importance (PA)
1. principal
2. accessory
7. Capability of Substitution (FN)
1. fungible
• capable of substitution by other things of the same quantity and quality
2. non-fungible
• incapable of such substitution, hence, the identical thing must be given or returned
8. Nature or Definiteness (GS)
1. generic
• one referring to a group or class
2. specific
• one referring to a single, unique object
9. Whether in the Custody of the Court or Free (CF)
1. in custodia legis (in the custody of the court) 
• when it has been seized by an offi cer under a writ of attachment or under a writ of execution.
2.  “free’’ property (not in “custodia legis’’)

(6) Characteristics of Property (USI)

1. utility for the satisfaction of moral or economic wants 
2. susceptibility of appropriation 
3. individuality or substantivity 
• it can exist by itself, and not merely as a part of a whole 
• human hair becomes property only when it is detached from the owner

(7) Right to Property 

• Fernando v. St. Scholastics College 693 SCRA 141
• Respondents have been compelled to construct their fence in accordance with an assisted ordinance.
• Is there a clear encroachment on their right to property?
• Yes, for the right to property necessarily includes the respondents right to decide how best to protect their property.
• Note: In the case at bar, it also appears that requiring the exposure of their property via a see-through fence is violative of their right to privacy.

Article 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.

(1) Importance of the Classification of Property Into Immovables and Movables 

• The classification of property into immovables or movables does not assume its importance from the fact of mobility or non-mobility, but from the fact that different provisions of the law govern the acquisition, possession, disposition, loss, and registration of immovables and movables. 
• Examples:
• In general, 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 an Audi automobile, worth let us say, P1.8 million, needs only to be in a private instrument. (Art. 748). 
• 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). 
• Generally, to affect third persons, transactions involving real property must be recorded in the Registry of Property; this is not so in the case of personal property. 

(2) Incompleteness of the Classification 

• The classification given in Art. 414 is not complete in that there should be a third kind — the “mixed” or the “semi-immovable.” 
• This refers to movable properties (like machines, or removable houses or transplantable trees) which under certain conditions, may be considered immovable by virtue of their being attached to an 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 other conditions, immovable. 

(3) Historical Note

• Under the Spanish Civil Code, immovables were referred to as bienes immuebles, and movables as bienes muebles. 
• Under Anglo-American law, the terms given are “real” and “personal” respectively. 
• Inasmuch as our country has been influenced both by Spanish and Anglo-American jurisprudence, the two sets of terms have been advisedly used by the Code Commission. 
• Incidentally, it should be remembered that it was Justinian who first classified corporeal property (res corporales) into immovables (res immobiles) and movables (res mobiles). 

(4) Jurisprudence on the Classification 

• 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. 
• However, the true reason why the agreement would be valid between the parties is the application of estoppel. 
• It stated further that it is a familiar phenomenon to see things classed as real property for purposes of taxation, which on general principles may be considered as personal property. 
• However, it would seem that under the Civil Code, it is only the law which may consider certain real property (like growing crops) as personal property (for the purpose of making a chattel mortgage). (See Art. 416, par. 2). 

(5) ‘Reclassification’ Distinguished from ‘Conversion’ 

• Reclassification
• 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
• the act of changing the current use of a piece of agricultural land into some other use as approved by the Dept. of Agrarian Reform (DAR). 
• A mere reclassification of agricultural land does not automatically allow a landowner to change its use and, thus, cause the ejectment of the tenants –– he has to undergo the process of conversion before he is permitted to use the agricultural land for other purposes.
• The fact that a caretaker plants rice or corn on a residential lot in the middle of a residential subdivision in the heart of a metropolitan area cannot by any strained interpretation of law convert it into agricultural land and subject to the agrarian reform program.
• At any rate, court proceedings are indispensable where the classification/conversion of a landholding in duly-determined before ejectment can be effected, which, in turn, paves the way for the payment of disturbance compensation. 

(6) The Human Body 

Is the human body real or personal property? 

• It is sub mitted 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.
• It is indeed a thing or a being, for it exists; in fact, it is a tangible or corporeal being or thing, as distinguished from the human soul, which is necessarily intangible or incorporeal. 
• 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. 

(7) Organ Donation Act 

•  The “Organ Donation Act of 1991,” otherwise known as RA 7170, as amended, was effective on Feb. 24, 1992, upon its publication in the Official Gazette. The law’s complete title is “An Act Authorizing the Legacy or Donation of All or Part of a Human Body After Death for Specified Purposes.” 
• This means that all or part of a human body may only occur after a person’s “death” (i.e., the irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or the irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain system.

(8) Person Who May Execute a Legacy 

• Said person may be “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.’’ 

(9) Who may Execute a Donation? (SSPBG)

• 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 (that includes a still-born infant or fetus), may donate all or any part of 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;
5. or guardian over the person of the decedent at the time of his death.
• The persons authorized may make the donation after or immediately before death. 

(10) 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. 
• Now, if the will is not probated, or if it is declared invalid for testamentary purposes, the legacy, to the extent that it was executed in good faith, is nevertheless valid and effective.
• A legacy of all or part of the human body may also be made 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:
• executor;
• administrator;
• heirs;  
• assign; 
• successors-in-interest
• all members of the family. 
• The document, which may be a card or any paper designed to be carried on a person, must be signed by the testator in the presence of two witnesses who must sign the document in his presence.
• As a general rule, the legacy may be made to a specified legatee or without specifying a legatee. 
• Also as a general rule, the testator may designate in his will, card or other document, the surgeon or physician who will carry out the appropriate procedures.

(11) International Sharing of Human Organs or Tissues 

• Such “shall be made only thru exchange programs duly approved by the Dept. of 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.”
• “Organ bank storage facility” refers to a facility licensed, ac credited, or approved under the law for storage of human bodies or parts thereof.

(11) 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’’ –– “shall promulgate rules and regulations as may be necessary or proper to[wards] [the] implement[ation] [of] this Act.”

(13) Any Right in the Nature of Property Less than Title 

• PNB v. CA 82 SCAD 472 (1997) ⭐
• 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, indicates that the terms are not considered synonymous. 
• It is practically synonymous, however, with the word “estate’’ which is the totality of interest which a person has from abso lute 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 of the benefits or uses from which the property is inseparable.