K. Modes of Acquiring Ownership

V. DIFFERENT MODES OF ACQUIRING OWNERSHIP (Civil Code, art. 712)

A. Occupation (Civil Code, arts. 713-720)

B. Donation (Civil Code, arts. 725-773)

C. Prescription (Civil Code, arts. 1106-1155)

> Article 712. Ownership is acquired by occupation and by intellectual creation.

Ownership and other real rights over property are acquired and transmitted by law, by donation, by testate and intestate succession, and in consequence of certain contracts, by tradition.

They may also be acquired by means of prescription. (609a)

Requisites:

• Seizure or apprehension
• Property seized must be corporeal movable property
• Property must be susceptible of appropriation
• Intent to appropriate
• Compliance with requisites or conditions of the law (De Leon, supra, p. 585).

Note: The holding of the material is not required as long as there is right of disposition.

Abandoned property - res derelicta, a thing is considered abandoned when:

• The spes recuperandi (expectation to recover) is gone.
• The animo revertendi (intention to return or to have it returned) has been given up by the owner. (De Leon, supra, p. 587).

Un-owned Property – res nullius

• Without an owner
• Intent to appropriate
• Compliance with the requisites or conditions of the law

What are the Modes of Acquiring Ownership? (OLD-TIPS)

Under Article 712 of the Civil Code, ownership may be acquired through:

• Occupation
• Law
• Donation
• Tradition
• Intellectual creation
• Prescription
• Succession

What are the Modes of Acquiring Ownership? (OLD-TIPS)

Under Article 712 of the Civil Code, ownership may be acquired through:

• Occupation
• Law
• Donation
• Tradition
• Intellectual creation
• Prescription
• Succession

What is the definition of Mode?

It is the process of acquiring or transferring ownership

What is the definition of Mode?

It is the process of acquiring or transferring ownership

Rules When Landowner– Builder/Planter/Sower (LO-BPS) makes Constructions/Plantings with Materials of Another (OM) (Art. 455)

Rights concerning materials used to build, plant, or sow on land

• Landowner uses another’s materials (Art. 447): A landowner who makes constructions, plantings, or works on the land, personally or through another, with materials belonging to someone else must pay their value. If the landowner acted in bad faith, the landowner must also pay damages. The owner of the materials may remove them if this can be done without injury to the work or destruction of the plantings, constructions, or works; if the landowner acted in bad faith, the owner of the materials may remove them in any case and recover damages.
• Builder, planter, or sower uses a third person’s materials (Art. 455): If the owner of the materials, plants, or seeds did not act in bad faith, the landowner is subsidiarily liable for their value only if the person who used them has no property with which to pay. This subsidiary liability does not apply if the landowner exercises the right under Art. 450.
• Both landowner and builder, planter, or sower in bad faith (Art. 453): Their rights are the same as though both had acted in good faith.

The original chart was attributed to Atty. Francis H. Ampil.

Planting concerns a perennial that grows and bears fruit year after year without replanting. A planter may be required to buy the land. (Paras, supra, pp. 220–221)

Sowing concerns an annual crop that must be planted again to bear another harvest. A sower may be required to pay rent. (Paras, supra, p. 221)

1. ACQUISITIVE

Mode of acquiring ownership and other real rights through lapse of time.

What is Derivative Mode?

There was a preceding owner. (De Leon, supra, p. 580)

What is Derivative Mode?

There was a preceding owner. (De Leon, supra, p. 580)

What is a possessor in good faith?

Possessor in Good Faith is one who is not aware that there exists a flaw in the title or mode which invalidates it. (Art. 526)

HIDDEN TREASURE

Article 438. Hidden treasure belongs to the owner of the land, building, or other property on which it is found. Nevertheless, when the discovery is made on the property of another, or of the State or any of its subdivisions, and by chance, one-half thereof shall be allowed to the finder. If the finder is a trespasser, he shall not be entitled to any share of the treasure.

If the things found be of interest to science or the arts, the State may acquire them at their just price, which shall be divided in conformity with the rule stated. (351a)

Article 439. By treasure is understood, for legal purposes, any hidden and unknown deposit of money, jewelry, or other precious objects, the lawful ownership of which does not appear. (352)

When does bad faith begin?

A possessor in good faith may become possessor in bad faith when he becomes aware of the flaw in his title or mode of acquisition.

NOTE: Nature of creditor’s right to fruits before delivery

In accordance with the second sentence of the article, before the fruits are delivered to him, the creditor’s right to the fruits (in cases where he is entitled to them) is purely personal (i.e. exclusively against the debtor, his successors, or assigns).

Rule: No real right of ownership or possession enforceable against the whole world arises in his favor until delivery. It is not by agreement alone, but by delivery that ownership is transferred. (BALANE 66 (2020)

When Maker is in Good Faith

One who, in good faith, employs the material of another in order to make a thing of a different kind shall appropriate the thing transformed as his own, indemnifying the owner of the material for its value. (Art. 474)

When the Material is of Greater Value Than the Transformed Thing

The owner of the material may:

• Appropriate the new thing to himself, after paying indemnity for the value of the work; or
• Demand indemnity for the material. (Art. 474)