PROPERTY RIGHTS OF A PARTNER G.R. No.

L-45662 April 26,

1939
CLEMENTE vs. GALVAN
Issue: Can either of the partners claim ownership over property
belonging to the partnership before liquidation?
Facts of the Case: Plaintiff (P) and Defendant (D) organized a civil
partnership to engage in the manufacture and sale of paper and other
stationery. They contributed equal amounts of money. D was
entrusted with management. In less than a year, P asked for the
dissolution of the partnership. D agreed, with a condition that P
reimburse him for half the amount of a deficit incurred by the
partnership which he had covered with his own money. Before final
liquidation of its affairs, P filed a petition asking the court to order the
delivery of certain machines to him and to charge their value against
his portion in the partnership. This was granted by the court. However,
before P could take actual possession of said machines, and upon
strong opposition of D, the court suspended the effects of its previous
order. In the meantime, judgments for money-recovery cases against
the partnership were rendered. To avoid the attachment and
subsequent sale of the machines by the sheriff for the satisfaction of
said judgments, P mortgaged the machines to his nephew. When the
terms in the mortgage expired, P’s nephew commenced a case to
collect his mortgage credit.
Ruling: No. (Article 1811)The machines in contention originally
belonged to the defendant and from him were transferred to the
partnership. This being the case, said machines belongs to the
partnership and not to him, and shall belong to any partner until
partition is effected according to the result thereof after the liquidation