MATEO CARIÑO vs.

THE INSULAR GOVERNMENT

G.R. No. 2869. March 25, 1907
Facts: 

An Igorot applied for the registration of a certain land. He and his ancestors had held the land as
owners for more than 50 years, which he inherited under Igorot customs. There was no document
of title issued for the land when he applied for registration. The government contends that the land
in question belonged to the state. Under the Spanish Law, all lands belonged to the Spanish Crown
except those with permit private titles. Moreover, there is no prescription against the Crown.

Issue: 

Whether or not the land in question belonged to the Spanish Crown under the Regalian Doctrine.

Ruling:

Law and justice require that the applicant should be granted title to his land. The United States
Supreme Court, through Justice Holmes declared:

“It might perhaps, be proper and sufficient to say that when, as far as testimony or memory goes,
the land has been held by individuals under a claim of private ownership, it will be presumed to
have been held in the same way from before the Spanish conquest, and never to have been public
land.” There is an existence of native title to land, or ownership of land by Filipinos by virtue of
possession under a claim of ownership since time immemorial and independent of any grant from
the Spanish Crown, as an exception to the theory of jura regalia