POLITICAL LAW

1. Distinguish sovereignty from dominion

Held: Sovereignty is the right to exercise the functions of a State to the exclusion of any other State. It is often referred to as the
power of imperium, which is defined as the government authority possessed by the State. On the other hand, dominion, or
dominium, is the capacity of the State to own or acquire property such as lands and natural resources. (Separate Opinion,
Kapunan, J., in Isagani Cruz v. Secretary of DENR, G.R. No. 135385, Dec. 6, 2000, En Banc, See Footnote 86)

2. How did Spain acquire the Philippines?

Held: 1. The Philippines passed to Spain by virtue of “discovery” and conquest. Consequently, all lands became the
exclusive patrimony and dominion of the Spanish Crown. The Spanish Government took charge of distributing the lands by issuing
royal grants and concessions to Spaniards, both military and civilian (Antonio H. Noblejas, Land Titles and Deeds, p. 5 [1986];
These grants were better known as repartimientos and encomiendas. Repartimientos were handouts to the military as fitting
reward for their services to the Spanish crown. The encomiendas were given to Spaniards to administer and develop with the
right to receive and enjoy for themselves the tributes of the natives assigned to them. – Ponce, supra, p. 12, citing Benitez, History
of the Philippines, pp. 125-126). Private land titles could only be acquired from the government either by purchase or by the
various modes of land grant from the Crown (Narciso Pena, Registration of Land Titles and Deeds, p. 2 [1994]). (Separate Opinion,
Puno, J., in Cruz v. Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, 347 SCRA 128, 166, En Banc [Per Curiam])

2. When Spain acquired sovereignty over the Philippines by virtue of its discovery and occupation thereof in the 16 th century and
the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 which it entered into with Portugal (Under the Treaty of Tordesillas, the world was divided
between Spain and Portugal, with the former having exclusive power to claim all lands and territories west of the Atlantic Ocean
demarcation line [Lynch, The Legal Bases of Philippine Colonial Sovereignty, 62 Phil. L J 279, 283 [1987]) the continents of Asia,
the Americas and Africa were considered as terra nullius although already populated by other peoples (See Akehurst, a Modern
Introduction to International Law, 5th ed., 142-143). The discovery and occupation by the European States, who were then
considered as the only members of the international community of civilized nations, of lands in the said continents were deemed
sufficient to create title under international law (See Cruz, International Law, 1996 ed., pp. 106-107) (Separate Opinion, Kapunan,
J., in Isagani Cruz v. Secretary of DENR, G.R. No. 135385, Dec. 6, 2000, 347 SCRA 128, 271, En Banc [Per Curiam])