UNIT 2: CONCEPTS, RULES AND

PRINCIPLES: ACQUISITION, TRANSFER

AND LAPSING OF REAL RIGHTS
1.1. ACQUISITION OF REAL RIGHTS
Regulation: See article 531-1 CatCC and art. 609 SpCC

GENERAL RULE

To transfer and acquire property, as well as title of acquisition, the realisation, if appropriate, of
the delivery or events or formalities established by the laws is required.

LIST OF DIFFERENT WAYS TO ACQUIRE REAL RIGHTS

The property is acquired:

• By APROPRIATION (OCCUPATIO or occupancy). Property and other rights in property
are acquired and transmitted:
• By LAW
• By DONATION (gifts)
• By TESTATE AND INTESTATE SUCCESSION, and
• By means of certain contracts and delivery (TRADITIO)
• By PRESCRIPTION (also called “usucapio” or “adverse possession”).

1.2. OCCUPANCY (OR APPROPRIATION)

Regulation: See art. 610 t0 617 SpCC and art. 542-20 to 542-22 CatCC

ARTICLE 610 CC

Property capable of appropriation without an owner, such as game or wild fish, hidden treasure
and abandoned movable things are acquired by occupancy.

ARTICLE 614 CC.

A person who by chance discovers a hidden treasure in another’s property, shall have the right
granted pursuant to article 351 of this Code.

ARTICLE 615 CC
A person who finds a movable thing, which is not a treasure, must return it to its former
possessor. If such possessor should be unknown, he must immediately consign it in the
possession of the Mayor of the village where it was found.
The Mayor shall publish the finding as per local custom, on two consecutive Sundays.
If the movable thing cannot be preserved without impairment or without making expenses
which considerably reduce its value, it shall be sold in a public auction after the lapse of eight
days from the second announcement without the owner having appeared, and the proceeds
shall be deposited.
After two years counting from the second publication without the owner having appeared, the
thing found or its value shall be awarded to the person who found it.
Both such person and the owner shall be obliged, each as applicable, to pay any expenses.

ARTICLE 616 CC

If the owner should appear in time, he shall be obliged to pay, as a prize to the person who found
it, one tenth of the amount or the price of the thing found. Where the value of the finding
should exceed 2000 pesetas, the prize shall be reduced to one twentieth in respect of the
excess.

ARTICLE 617 CC

Rights over objects thrown into the sea or objects which the waves should bring to the beach,
of whatever nature or over the plants and grasses which grow on its shores shall be determined
by specific statutes.

1.2. APPROPRIATION IN CATALAN LAW

ARTICLE 542-20 CATCC. ACQUISITION BY OCCUPANCY

The following can be acquired by occupancy:
a) The physical property UNDOUBTEDLY abandoned by their proprietors that can be
appropriated by means of a material act.
b) Animals that can be hunted and fished.

ARTICLE 542-21 CATCC. DISCOVERY OF OBJECTS OF EXTRAORDINARY VALUE

1. Objects of extraordinary value that have remained concealed and whose proprietors
are unknown, BELONG TO THE PROPRIETORS OF THE ESTATE WHERE THEY ARE
FOUND.
2. Anyone discovering the concealed object by chance has the right to receive in cash a
quantity equivalent to half its value.
3. The discovery of objects of cultural, historical, archaeological or artistic value and the
discovery of objects by prospecting or excavation is governed by the applicable special
legislation.
ARTICLE 542-22. FINDS

1. Domestic animals and physical movable objects that, due to their characteristics,
possibility of identification, state of conservation, function or economic use, are usually
possessed by someone, cannot be acquired by occupancy, except if they comply with
the requirements established in this article.

2. If the proprietors are unknown, the find must be notified to the Town Council of the
place where they were found, which must make this public by means of an edict, must
deposit the thing during the term of six months in the establishment determined, and
must notify the pertinent public bodies if the characteristics of the find so requires.

3. If the proprietors appear within the term established in Section 2:

a. The object lost will be released to them once they have paid the expenses
occasioned by the custody, conservation and handing over.
b. They must pay the finders in good faith 10% of the value and, if this is equal to
or higher than six times the amount of the NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE, 4%
of the excess over same.

4. The same right as is established by Section 3.b corresponds to finders in good faith if
they return the thing directly to the proprietors, except that, if appropriate, they prefer
the reward that the proprietors have publicly offered.

5. If the term established in Section 2 has gone by and the proprietors have not appeared:

a. The object is released to the finder, who must previously pay the expenses
caused by the custody, conservation and handing over.
b. If the value at appraisal of the thing is higher than six times the national
minimum wage, IT IS SOLD AT PUBLIC AUCTION AT THE EXPENSE OF THE
TOWN COUNCIL, and the finders have a right to this quantity and, in addition,
to a quarter of the excess obtained in the auction. The rest remains at the
disposal of the Town Council. If in the auction a quantity equivalent to six times
the national minimum wage is not obtained, the finders have the option to take
over the thing.
c. The proprietors do not have any action against the finders in good faith or the
successful bidder to claim the thing lost.

This is a case that every law student in

sophomore has to know about. “first in
time” (first come, first served) → The Court
decided that the best idea of occupation
was actual control, that is best
represented by the mere fact of
occupation, when it’s materially
appropriated. Actual control is
represented by the idea of OCCUPATION.
 Found a mosaic. Started to remove the cent
and saw its a large piece of mosaics. The
municipality asked the arqueological services
of toledo. IT WAS A HOLE ROMAN VILLAGE in
Carranque. He hired a lawyer to get a cut of
that discobery, to get a portion of the value.

If you find an arqueological object

next of the container, then this could
belong to the state, is not the same as
a normal mobible object. Inside this
wooden sarcophagus was the mommy
of a small child.
If it’s a natural object from the sea, the
person who takes it can become the
owner.
Issue: Real rights acquisition by Gift /
Donation Facts: [The last minute
birthday’s present] Today is Pablo’s
birthday. It is 8 p.m. and his sister
Dolores has forgotten to shop for a
present. Dolores is about to leave town
on a business trip to Madrid. She
telephones Pablo and wishes him
"Happy Birthday" and tells him that his
present is a porcelain vase, which
Pablo previously saw at her sister’s
house and loved it because it
belonged to their grandfather.
Dolores [donor] tells Pablo [donee]
that he can pick it up next weekend.
Before Dolores returns home from
Madrid, she changes her mind
about the birthday present.
Question: Who presently owns the
vase? Your choice is: A. Pablo,
because Dolores expressed a
definite intent to make a gift. B.
Pablo, because he relied upon Dolores expression that the vase was his. G. Pablo, because he
allowed Dolores to retain possession of the vase temporarily (until he could retrieve it personally
from her sister’s home). D. Dolores, because she expressed an intent to make a gift in the future.
E. Dolores, because the requirements for making a gift were not satisfied. Rule: Acquiring rights
from a gift require both acceptance and effective possession of the thing by the donee.