1. Krivenko v. Register of Deeds, 79 Phil.

461 (1947)

Doctrine: If a word has acquired a fixed, technical meaning in legal and constitutional history, it will be presumed to
have been employed in that sense in a written Constitution.

Facts:
Alexander Krivenko, a Russian citizen, bought a residential lot from Magdalena Estate Inc. in December 1941. The
registration was interrupted by the war. In May 1945, he sought to accomplish the said registration but was denied by
the Register of Deeds of Manila on the grounds that he is a foreigner and he cannot acquire a land in this jurisdiction.
Krivenko brought the case to the CFI of Manila. The CFI ruled that he cannot own a land, being an alien. Hence, he
filed a petition to the SC.

Issue:
Whether or not an alien may own private lands in the Philippines

Held:
No. Section 1, Article XIII of the 1935 Constitution provides:

“All agricultural, timber, and mineral lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal,
petroleum, and other mineral oils, all sources of potential energy, and other natural
resources of the Philippines belong to the State, and their disposition, exploitation,
development, or utilization shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines, or to
corporations or associations at least sixty per centum of the capital of which is owned
by such citizens…”

When section 1, Article XIII, of the Constitution, with reference to lands of the public domain, makes mention of only
agricultural, timber and mineral lands, it undoubtedly means that all lands of the public domain are classified into said
three groups, namely, agricultural, timber and mineral. And this classification finds corroboration in the circumstance
that at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, that was the basic classification existing in the public laws and
judicial decision in the Philippines, and the term "public agricultural lands" under said classification has always been
construed as referring to those lands that were neither timber nor mineral, and as including residential lands. It may
safely be presumed, therefore, that what the members of the Constitutional Convention had in mind when they
drafted the Constitution was this well-known classification and its technical meaning then prevailing.