RIGHT OF ACCESSION : Articles 440 - 475

1. RIGHT OF ACCESSION WITH RESPECT TO WHAT IS PRODUCED BY PROPERTY

Movable or Immovable (ACCESSION DISCRETA: Arts. 440 – 445)

1. Natural
2. Industrial
3. Civil fruits

2. RIGHT OF ACCESSION WITH RESPECT TO IMMOVABLE PROPERTY

– BY ATTACHMENT OR INCORPORATION
(ACCESSION CONTINUA: Arts. 445 – 456)

A. Industrial Accession
1. Building
2. Planting
3. Sowing

B. Natural Accession (Arts. 457 – 465)

1. Alluvium or Accretion
2. Avulsion
3. Change of river course
4. Formation of Island

3. RIGHT OF ACCESSION WITH RESPECT TO MOVABLE PROPERTY

(Arts. 466 – 475)
a.) Accession Continua [or by incorporation or attachment]
1. Conjunction,
2. Adjunction,
3. Commixtion/ confusion,
4. Specification

b.) Rules for determining the principal and accessory

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 RIGHT OF ACCESSION : Articles 440 – 475
What is the law or principle of the Right of Accession?

Art. 440. The ownership of property gives the right by accession to everything
which is PRODUCED thereby, or which is INCORPORATED or ATTACHED
thereto, either naturally or artificially.

o Right to accession arises because of one´s ownership and dominion over

the principal principal property.
o Without ownership of the principal property the right to accession will
have no basis or existence.
o Right to Accession is AUTOMATIC (ipso jure), requiring no prior act on the
part of the owner of the principal thing or property.

o The RIGHT OF ACCESSION to a movable or immovable principal property

may be classified into:

1. Accession Discreta (right of accession to the fruits)

2. Accession Continua (right of accession to everything that is attached or
incorporated to the principal property)

A. RIGHT OF ACCESSION WITH RESPECT TO WHAT IS PRODUCED BY PROPERTY

(ACCESSION DISCRETA: Arts. 441 – 445)

Art. 441. To the owner belongs :

(1) The natural fruits
(2) The industrial fruits
(3) The civil fruits

o In an action to recover a person´s property unlawfully possessed by another,

damages may in part consist of the value of the fruits produced. (Quizon v. Salud, 12
Phil. 109).

Q. What are some of the Instances when Landowner does not own the fruits but
another party?
a.) Possessor in good faith owns the fruits already received (Art. 544, par.1)
b.) Usufructuary (Art. 566)

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 c.) Lessee who gets the fruits of the land
d.) In antichresis contract where the antichretic creditor gets the fruits, but this will be
first to the interest if any is owing, then to the principal sum of the loan. (Art.
2132)

Art. 442. Natural fruits are the spontaneous products of the soil, and the young
and other products of animals.

Industrial fruits are those produced by lands of any kind through

cultivation or labor.

Civil fruits are the rents of buildings, the price of leases of lands and other
property and the amount of perpetual or life annuities or other similar income.

o Memorize DEFINITION of what constitutes Natural, Industrial, Civil fruits in Art.

442.
o Civil fruits are deemed to accrue daily (see Art. 544)
o Banks are not required to pay interest on deposits for the period during which they
are not allowed to operate by the Central Bank. However, interests that had accrued
prior to the suspension should be paid by the bank, for after all, it has made use
then of the money deposited. (The Overseas Bank of Manila v. Court of Appeals, L-
49353, June 11, 1981)

o Unpaid charges for use of govt. airports and air navigation facilities are civil fruits
that belong to the national govt. as owner, and not to the Civil Aeronautics
Administration, which is only an instrumentality authorized to collect the same.
(Velayo v. Republic L-7915, July 30,1955)

Art. 443. He who receives the fruits has the obligation to pay the expenses made
by a third person in their production, gathering and preservation.

Q. What are these EXPENSES to be paid to the third person under Art. 443?
A. These expenses consist of:
1.) those used for production, gathering, preservation, but not for improvement of
property.
2.) must be necessary, and not luxurious or excessive.
3.) must be commensurate with what is ordinarily required by the product
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• NOTE - Art. 443 applies to a situation when the crops have already been gathered;
the third person referred to is a possessor in bad faith

A person in bad faith who produced, gathered or preserved the fruits of the land may
still be reimbursed by owner -- for without his effort and expenses for production,
gathering or preservation of the fruits these would not have existed for the landowner.
Basis: principle that - “no one shall enrich himself unjustly at the expense of
another.”

How do you reconcile Art. 443 with Art. 449 which provides that: “He who builds,
plants, or sows in bad faith on the land of another, loses what is built, planted, or sown
WITHOUT RIGHT TO INDEMNITY”.

 Art. 449 applies only if the crops have NOT YET been gathered. Here the
landowner gets the fruits without indemnity according to the principle of
“ACCESSION CONTINUA” (right to accession by attachment or incorporation)”.

 Art. 443 on the other hand applies when the crops have already been gathered,
thus accession continua does not apply.

In the case of Tacas v. Tobon, 53 Phil. 356, the possessor in bad faith was
ordered to return the fruits he had gathered with a right to deduct the expenses
of planting and harvesting.

Nota Bene:
1.) Art. 443 does not apply when the planter is in good faith, for in this case, he is
entitled to the fruits already received before his possession is legally interrupted (see
Art. 544); thus, no reimbursement is necessary.

2.) The 3rd person referred to in Art. 443 is a planter in bad faith, and if the landowner
insists on getting the fruits gathered or harvested, he must reimburse to the planter
in bad faith the following expenses:
 used for production, gathering or preservation, not for the improvement of
property.
 they must be necessary, and not luxurious or excessive.
 must be commensurate with what is ordinarily required by the product

3.) Reimbursement for expenses must still be made to the planter in bad faith, even if
the said fruits have been lost or destroyed or damaged without fault of the other
party.

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 Reasons:
a.) the law makes no exception or distinction
b.) the same thing would have happened had the owner been the planter
c.) he who expected advantages must be prepared to shoulder losses

Exception: If the fruits had not yet been gathered, then the planter in bad faith has
no right to indemnity pursuant to Art. 449.

Art. 444. Only such are manifest or born are considered as natural or industrial
fruits.

With respect to animals, it is sufficient that they are in the womb of the
mother, although unborn.

Q. When are Plants or Crops deemed Manifest or Existing?

1. Annual Crops (cereals, grains, rice, corn, sugar) – the moment their seedlings
appear from the ground, although the grains have not yet actually appeared.
2. Perrenial Crops (mangoes, oranges, coconuts, etc.) – the moment the fruits
appear on the trees.

Q. When are animals deemed to be existing?

o Animals are considered existing when they are in the womb of the mother although
unborn; to be reckoned at the beginning of the maximum ordinary period of
gestation.