Professional Documents
Culture Documents
OWNERSHIP IN GENERAL
Art. 427. Ownership may be exercised over things or rights. (n)
OWNERSHIP
Independent and general right of a person to control a thing particularly in his possession, enjoyment,
disposition and recovery, subject to no restrictions except those imposed by the state or private persons, without
prejudice to the provisions of the law
KINDS OF OWNERSHIP
1.
2.
3.
4.
Art. 428. The owner has the right to enjoy and dispose of a thing, without other limitations than those
established by law.
The owner has also a right of action against the holder and possessor of the thing in order to recover
it. (348a)
ACTIONS TO RECOVER
1.
Replevin
2.
3.
Accion publiciana
4.
Accion reinvidicatoria
5.
6.
REPLEVIN
An action or provisional remedy where the complainant prays for the recovery of the possession of PERSONAL
PROPERTY
FORCIBLE ENTRY
> Summary action to recover material or physical possession of real property when a person originally in
possession was deprived thereof by force, intimidation, strategy, threat or stealth
> Action must be brought within 1 year from the dispossession
> Issue involved is mere physical possession or possession de facto and not juridical possession nor ownership
UNLAWFUL DETAINER
> Action that must be brought when the possession by a landlord, vendor, vendee or other person of any
land or building is being unlawfully withheld after the expiration or termination of the right to hold possession, by
virtue of any contract, express or implied
>Action must be brought within one year from last demand letter
ACCION PUBLICIANA
> Recovery of the better right to possess, and is a plenary action in an ordinary civil proceeding before the RTC
>Must be brought within a period of 10 years otherwise the real right to possess is lost
> Issue is possession de jure
ACCION REINVIDICATORIA
WRIT OF INJUNCTION
> A person deprived of his possession of real or personal property is ordinarily not allowed to avail himself of this
remedy, the reason being that the defendant in actual possession is presumed disputably to have the better
right
WRIT OF POSSESSION
> Used in connection with the Land Registration Law is an order directing the sheriff to place a successful
registrant under the Torrens system in possession of the property covered by a decree of the Court
Art. 429. The owner or lawful possessor of a thing has the right to exclude any person from the enjoyment
and disposal thereof. For this purpose, he may use such force as may be reasonably necessary to
repel or prevent an actual or threatened unlawful physical invasion or usurpation of his property. (n)
DOCTRINE OF SELF-HELP
> The right to counter force with force
> Comparable with self-defense under justifying circumstances in Criminal Law
Art. 430. Every owner may enclose or fence his land or tenements by means of walls, ditches, live or
dead hedges, or by any other means without detriment to servitudes constituted thereon. (388)
Art. 431. The owner of a thing cannot make use thereof in such manner as to injure the rights of a
third person. (n)
Art. 432. The owner of a thing has no right to prohibit the interference of another with the same, if the
interference is necessary to avert an imminent danger and the threatened
damage, compared to the damage arising to the owner from the interference, is much greater. The owner
may demand from the person benefited indemnity for the damage to him. (n)
STATE OF NECESSITY
ANALOGOUS TO THE RULE UNDER CRIMINAL LAW
Any person who, in order to avoid an evil or injury, does an act which causes damage to another doesn't
incur criminal liability provided that the following requisites are present:
1. That the evil sought to be avoided actually exists
2. That the injury feared be greater than that done to avoid it
3. That there be no other practical or less harmful means of preventing it
Art. 433. Actual possession under claim of ownership raises disputable presumption of ownership. The
true owner must resort to judicial process for the recovery of the property. (n)
RULE OF EVIDENCE
REQUIREMENTS TO HAVE DISPUTABLE PRESUMPTION
1.
2.
Claim of ownership
Art. 434. In an action to recover, the property must be identified, and the plaintif must rely on the
strength of his title and not on the weakness of the defendant's claim. (n)
Art. 435. No person shall be deprived of his property except by competent authority and for public
use and always upon payment of just compensation.
Should this requirement be not first complied with, the courts shall protect and, in a proper case, restore the
owner in his possession. (349a)
of
6.