LTD Prepared by: SOLLEGUE, Shanica

79 – Williams v Suner
TOPIC: Dealings with Unregistered Lands
Citation G.R. No. 25795.
Date November 6, 1926.
Case Doctrine/s Related to Topic
• The provisions of Act No. 2837, amending section 194 of the Administrative Code, are applicable exclusively to
instruments resulting from the agreement of the parties; they have no application to the deed of a sheriff conveying
to the purchaser unregistered land that has been sold by the sheriff under execution.
• The deed of a sheriff conveying unregistered land to a person who has purchased the same at execution sale must
be noted and recorded by the register of deeds when presented to him for registration by one who tenders the
necessary fee, even though such deed does not conform in all respects, as regards the description of the property
to the requirements of paragraphs 2 and 3 of Act No. 2837.
• Until separate books shall be provided especially for the noting and recording of instruments executed by public
officials, the registration of such instruments must be effected by noting and recording them in the books ordinarily
used for the registration of instruments relating to unregistered property.
Case Summary
Williams sought to compel Suner, Capiz’s acting register of deeds, to inscribe, or record, a sheriff’s deed whereby 4
parcels of land and a house had been conveyed by the sheriff of Capiz to Williams as purchaser at an execution
sale. CFI held that the document is not registrable in view of nonregistration under the Torrens System and
noncompliance with the formal requirements under Admin Code, as amended by Act No. 2387. SC held that

FACTS:
1. Emiliano Hontiveros’ (Hontiveros) and the Visayan Refining Co.’s properties (4 parcels of in Buruanga, Capiz and
house of strong materials in Ibahay) became the subject of execution, levying upon all the right, title and interest of
Hontiveros on said properties.
2. At the sheriff’s sale conducted pursuant to said execution, CT Williams (Williams) became purchaser of the
properties for P14,560.
3. After the period of redemption had expired, the provincial sheriff executed the document of which registration is now
sought, purporting to be a sheriff’s deed in ordinary form conveying the properties which had been sold to Williams.
4. Williams filed an application for writ of mandamus with CFI to compel Suñer, as acting register of deeds for the
Province of Capiz, to inscribe, or record, a sheriff’s deed whereby 4 parcels of land and a house had been conveyed
by the sheriff of Capiz to Williams as purchaser at an execution sale.
5. CFI held that the document is not registerable under existing law and absolved Suner from the complaint.
○ Properties are not registered under the Torrens system and had never been registered under the system
established by the Spanish Mortgage Law.
○ Deed does not conform in several particulars with the requirements set forth in pars 2 and 3 of sec 194 of
the Administrative Code, as amended by Act No. 2837.
■ Document does not state whether the boundaries of the several properties involved are indicated
by visible monuments, and of what they consist;
■ Superficial area of the parcels conveyed is not stated in square meters;
■ Instrument does not mention the name of the person or persons now in possession,
■ as regards the 4 parcels, the instrument does not show the permanent improvements existing
thereon;
■ as regards 2 properties, it does not show the number of the assessment sheet of the property and
its taxable value.
ISSUE # 1 HELD
WON Act No 2837 applies in the instant case NO
RATIO
1. Sec 124 of the Land Registration Act (No. 496) contains a provision continuing in force the law relating to the
Spanish system of registration already in force in these Islands
○ Proviso to sec 124 contemplates that any deed, mortgage, lease, or other instrument dealing with land not
registered under Act No. 496, whether already registered under the Spanish system or not, shall be
registered by the making of the proper indorsements thereon by the register and the recording of such
instrument in the proper volume.
2. This idea was incorporated by the authors of the Administrative Code in section 216 of Act No. 2657, which was
carried into the present Administrative Code (Act No. 2711) as section 194:
○ "SEC. 194. Recording of instrument relating to unregistered land. — Any instrument affecting the title of
unregistered land, such as a deed, lease, mortgage, release, power of attorney, or other conveyance or
contract relative thereto may after the due execution or acknowledgment of such instrument, be delivered
for record to the register of deeds for the province or city where the land lies.

"Upon the presentation of any such instrument, the register of deeds shall immediately indorse thereon the
true year, month, day, hour, and minute when the same was received; and from the time of the making of

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LTD Prepared by: SOLLEGUE, Shanica
79 – Williams v Suner
TOPIC: Dealings with Unregistered Lands
such notation the instrument in question shall be constructively deemed to have been recorded, and it shall
be the duty of the register as soon as practicable thereafter formally to record the instrument by extending
it in full upon the proper record. The register shall also indorse upon every such instrument a memorandum
showing the volume and page wherein the instrument is so recorded."
3. Meanwhile there has been in force for many years Sec 463 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which, in its closing
words, requires that a duplicate of a sheriff’s certificate of sale (meaning a sheriff’s deed to land sole under
execution) shall be filed in the office of the register of deeds of the province.
○ Garcia Sanchez v. Rosauro: SC, construing sec 463 of the Code of Civil Procedure in connection with
section 466 of the same Code, held that it was intended that the sheriff’s deed shall be recorded.
4. No provision is made in section 194 of the Administrative Code, it originally stood, with respect to the particular book
in which instruments relating to unregistered property shall be registered; it was only required that the instrument
should be extended in full upon the proper record. That provision of course could not be complied with without
keeping a book for the record of instruments relating to unregistered property/
5. 8 Mar 1919: Act No. 2837 was approved, amending sec 194 of the Administrative Code. In par 2 of said section,
as amended, it is declared that the register of deeds for each province shall keep a daybook and a register book for
unregistered real estate in accordance with the form to be prepared by the Chief of the General Land Registration
Office with the approval of the Secretary of Justice, thus giving express legislative sanction to the keeping of proper
books for notation and record of the instruments here under consideration.
6. Act No. 2837 contains a number of new provisions of an entirely different tenor from the earlier provisions contained
in sec 194 of the Administrative Code:
○ Par 1 of said Act declares in substance that no instrument or deed affecting rights to real property not
registered under the Land Registration Act shall be valid, except as between the parties thereto, until such
instrument or deed shall have been registered.
■ this provision cannot be interpreted to include conveyances made by ministerial officers, such as
sheriff’s deeds. It contemplates only such instruments as may be created by agreement of the
parties.
■ The provisions of law governing the transmission of property in invitum by the act of the sheriff who
has sold land under execution are specific; and the instruments executed by him pursuant to such
provisions must be taken to have full legal effect, anything contained in Act No. 2837 to the contrary
notwithstanding.
■ Garcia Sanchez v. Rosauro: SC required the register of deeds to register a sheriff’s deed, although
the land which was the subject of the conveyance had not been previously registered under any
system of registration.
■ In the matter of Consulta No. 441 de los Abogados de Smith, Bell & Co. v. Register of Deeds of
Leyte: SC granted a writ of mandamus to compel the registration of a sheriff’s deed, holding that,
as regards such instrument, the register of deeds exercises functions of a ministerial nature.
7. APPLICATION: exception is taken to the instrument which is sought to be registered on the ground that it does not
comply, as to its descriptive matter, with the requisites specified in secs 2 and 3 of Act No. 2837. But inasmuch as
Act No. 2837 cannot be held to apply to sheriff’s deeds, the instrument in question must also be registered in this
case.
8. It is true that no provision has as yet been made for the keeping of separate books of register for sheriff’s deeds;
until such provision is made, the sheriff’s deed must necessarily be noted and recorded in the same books that are
used for the recording of other instruments touching unregistered property.
9. The two classes of instruments were registered in the same books under sec 194 of the Administrative Code as it
originally stood; and since act No. 2837 has changed the law in so far only as relates to instruments created by
agreement, the deeds of ministerial officers must necessarily still be registered in the same book.
○ This will of course continue until the register of deeds shall be supplied with separate books for the notation
and registration of the deeds of ministerial officers, — a deficiency in the law which presumably might be
cured by administrative action on the part of the proper department head or the Chief Executive.
10. CFI seems to have assumed that the defects from which the deed in question was supposed to suffer could be
cured by the making of another deed by the sheriff. In some cases possibly this could be done; but a moment’s
reflection will show that it is not practicable to require sheriffs to incorporate in their deeds all the data required in
the second and third paragraphs of Act No. 2837.
○ Sheriffs commonly take the descriptions of the land which they sell from the pleadings, decree, or some
older document; and they cannot be expected to make an official survey to discover whether the land is
bounded by monuments or to ascertain just how many square meters may be contained in the limits given.
○ To require the sheriff to state these facts would be in the main to require the impossible; and the result
would by that for the most part the instruments made by them in the course of official duty would be outlaws
to the registration books, something that the Legislature could not possibly have intended.
RULING:
From what has been said it results that the plaintiff is entitled to the writ of mandamus as prayed, and the same will
issue in usual course, without costs. So ordered.

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