1st Week – Property Law
proportionate share or contribution to sustain government functions, by way of
a. Discuss In re: Joaquin Borromeo.
b. Discuss Department of Education Culture and Sports v. San Diego
c. What is law as defined by St. Thomas Aquinas?
“An ordinance of reason promulgated by competent authority for the sake of the
common good.”
Ordinance of reason - rules and norms of conduct (reasonable, product of
careful deliberation).
Properly promulgated- clearly communicated to all people concerned o
(generally, laws take effect after 15 days following its publication in the
official gazette).
Competent authority - those who are vested by the people.
Common good – promotion of respect for the dignity and freedom of each
for the general welfare.
d. Discuss the hierarchy of laws. (Article 7, Republic Act No. 386 or the Civil Code
of the Philippines)
a) Constitution – created by the sovereign people through the ratification process.
b) Statutes – created by the congress.
c) Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRRs) – written by agencies in the executive
branch to put statutes into force (execute laws).
d) Jurisprudence – citing a provision of a higher level of law will win over a provision
of an inferior law.
Article 7. Laws are repealed only by subsequent ones, and their violation or non-
observance shall not be excused by disuse, or custom or practice to the contrary.
e. Discuss the hierarchy of courts.
f. Discuss the inherent powers of the State.
1. Power of taxation - An inherent power of the state exercised through legislature,
to impose burdens upon subjects and objects within its jurisdiction, for the purpose
of raising revenues to carry out the legitimate objects of the government.
NATURE: An inherent power of the state exercised through the legislature.
Power of the state by which it is able to demand from the members of society their
services
2. Police Power - power of the state to regulate liberty & property for the
promotion of general welfare.
3. Power of Eminent Domain - This is the right of the State to acquire private
property for public use upon payment of just compensation and observance of due
process.
Requisites:
- There must be taking of public property
- It must be for public use
- There must be just compensation
- Due process of law must be observed in taking of the of property
g. Memorize and discuss Article 414.
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.
g.1. Discuss HPS Software and Communication Corporation v. PLDT.
h. Discuss the concepts of property, thing, and appropriation.
Concept of Property. – It is an object or a right which is appropriated or
susceptible of appropriation by man, with capacity to satisfy human wants
and needs.
Concept of Things. – Things refer to existing objects which can be of some
use to man.
Concept of Appropriation – This is the act a thing for one’s own use.
Physical seizing of corporeal things which have no owner with the intention
to acquire their ownership.
i. Distinguish between things and property.
(1) The term thing is broader in scope than property. All kinds of property are things
but not all things are property (2) things refer to all objects that exist including
those which could not be appropriated by man like the distant stars in the heavens.
(3) Things involves only corporeal objects. Property refers to objects already
possessed by man or are in their possession; Property may refer to intangible
matters like rights and credits.
j. Discuss the classification of things.
(1) Res Communes – are things which belong to everybody.
(2) Res Alicujus – are things which are owned by a person or group of persons.
(3) Res Nullius – are things which do not have any owner.
k. Discuss the classification of property according to:
k.1. Mobility
(1) Movable or personal property – is one which can be transferred from
place to place without being destroyed.
(2) Immovable or real property – is one which cannot be transferred from
place to place without destruction to itself.
k.2. Ownership
(1) Property of Public dominion – refers to property pertaining to the State
and intended for public use, public service and for development of the
national wealth.
(2) Property of private ownership – refers to all property belonging to
private persons, either individually or collectively.
k.3. Alienability
(1) Alienable property or property within the commerce of man – refers to
property which could be the object of juridical transaction.
(2) Inalienable property or property outside the commerce of man – refers
to property which could not be the object of juridical transaction.
k.4. Individuality
(1) Specific Property – is one which is fixed, definite and individuality
identified.
(2) Generic Property – is one which is indicated by its homogeneity or its
class.
k.5. Susceptibility to Touch
(1) Tangible property – is one which could be physically touched and has
physical existence whether real or personal property.
(2) Intangible property – is one which could not be physically touched.
k.6. Susceptibility to Substitution
(1) Fungible property – that property which can be replaced by another
thing of a similar value.
(2) Non-fungible property – that property which is specified and not subject
to substitution.
k.7. Accession
(1) Principal property – that property to which another property is
incorporated as an ornament or for the use or perfection of the first.
(2) Accessory property – that property which has been united as an
ornament to or for the use or perfection of another property.
Other Classifications:
1. Mixed- personal it its nature but is invested by law with certain characteristics of
real property Ex. Heir-looms, fixtures, title-deeds to an estate
2. Qualified- property in chattels which is not permanent in nature, may sometimes
subsist Ex. Ownership of wild animals
3. Mislaid- property which the owner has voluntarily parted with, with the intention
of retrieving it later, but now cannot be found. Does not include intentionally
hidden property, distinguished with “lost” property (involuntary)
4. Special- qualified, temporary, or limited nature as distinguished from absolute,
general, or unconditional property. Ex. Bailee in the article bailed, sheriff in goods
temporarily in his hands under levy, finder of lost goods looking for owner
l. Discuss the attributes of property;
Attributes Of Property. – Property has the following attributes:
1. It is the susceptible of appropriation
2. Its significance lies in its capacity to satisfy moral or economic needs;
3. It has individuality of its own, that is, it has a separate and autonomous
existence. Thus, human hair is not property until it is cut.
m. What are the rights considered as property?
Rights Considered As Property. - In the juridical sense, things include both
corporeal objects as well as rights (which refer to relations). Only patrimonial rights
can be considered as things. Non-patrimonial rights like right to liberty, right to live,
family rights cannot be considered property.
n. What are the classes of rights considered as property?
1. Real Right - is “the power belonging to a person over a specific thing,
without passive subject individually determined against whom such right
may be personally exercised” (2 Sanchez Roman 6-8) It can be exercised
not only against a particular person but against the whole world.
2. Personal Right - is “the power belonging to one person to demand of
another, as a definite passive subject, the fulfillment of a prestation to
give, to do, or not to do” (3 Sanchez Roman 6-8) Personal right is the
equivalent of right of obligation which means the oblige can enforce the
right against the obligor”.
o. Memorize Article 415.
Article 415. The following are immovable property:
(1) Land, buildings, roads and constructions 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 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, though floating, are intended by their nature and
object to remain at a fixed place on a river, lake, or coast;
(10) Contracts for public works, and servitudes and other real rights over
immovable property. (334a)
p. Discuss the juridical classification of immovable properties.
p.1. by nature.
(a) Immovable by nature - are those properties which cannot be moved from one
place to another.
p.2. by incorporation.
(b) Immovable by incorporation - are those properties which are basically movables
but are permanently attached to an immovable.
p.3. by destination.
(c) Immovable by destination - are those which are basically movables but having
been fixed in immovable properties for purposes of the business or functions of the
owner of the immovable property, they partake of the nature of the latter.
p.4. by analogy.
(d) Immovable by analogy - are those properties which are not actually tangible
properties, but are rights and interests over existing immovable properties. They
are considered immovable for convenience in dealing with them as they are
inseparable from the immovables from which they arise.

q. Discuss Paragraph 1 of Article 415.

q.1. Discuss Navarro v. Pineda.

r. Discuss Paragraph 2 of Article 415.

s. Discuss Paragraph 3 of Article 415.

s.1. Discuss Board of Assessment Appeals v. Manila Electric Company.

s.2. Discuss Meralco Securities Industrial Corp. v. Central Board of

Assessment Appeals.

t. Discuss Paragraph 4 of Article 415.

u. Discuss Paragraph 5 of Article 415.

u.1. Discuss Mindanao Bus Company v. City Assessor of Cagayan de Oro

City.

u.2. Discuss People’s Bank and Trust Co. V. Dahican Lumber Company.

v. Discuss Paragraph 6 of Article 415.

w. Discuss Paragraph 7 of Article 415.

x. Discuss Paragraph 8 of Article 415.

y. Discuss Paragraph 9 of Article 415.

z. Discuss Paragraph 10 of Article 415.