Property Case Digests

read more...

What is Immovable Property?

The following are immovable property:

1) Land, buildings, roads and constructions of all kinds adhered to the soil;

2) Trees, plants, and growing fruits, while they are attached to the land or form an integral part of an immovable;

3) Everything attached to an immovable in a fixed manner, in such a way that it cannot be separated therefrom without breaking the material or deterioration of the object;

4) Statues, reliefs, paintings or other objects for use or ornamentation, placed in buildings or on lands by the owner of the immovable in such a manner that it reveals the intention to attach them permanently to the tenements;

5) Machinery, receptacles, instruments or implements intended by the owner of the tenement for an industry or works which may be carried on in a building or on a piece of land, and which tend directly to meet the needs of the said industry or works;

6) Animal houses, pigeon-houses, beehives, fish ponds or breeding places of similar nature, in case their owner has placed them or preserves them with the intention to have them permanently attached to the land, and forming a permanent part of it; the animals in these places are included;

7) Fertilizer actually used on a piece of land;

8) Mines, quarries, and slag dumps, while the matter thereof forms part of the bed, and waters either running or stagnant;

9) Docks and structures which, though floating, are intended by their nature and object to remain at a fixed place on a river, lake, or coast;

10) Contracts for public works, and servitudes and other real rights over immovable property. (Art. 415, CC)

What are the different classes of immovable?

1) Immovable by nature - those which cannot be moved from place to place 

       

e.g. land and roads (no. 1)

             mines, quarries and slag dumps (no. 8)

2) Immovable by incorporation - those which are attached to an immovable in such a manner as to form and integral part thereof

e.g. buildings and constructions of all kinds adhered to the soil (no. 1)

             trees, plants, and growing fruits (no. 2)

             everything attached to an immovable in a fixed manner (no. 3)

             statues, reliefs, paintings or other objects (no. 4)

3) Immovable by destination - those which are placed in an immovable for the use, exploitation or perfection of such immovable

       

e.g. nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9 

4) Immovable by analogy - those which are considered immovables by operation of law

       

e.g. contracts for public works, and servitudes (no. 10)

read more...

What is Movable Property?

The following things are deemed to be personal property:

1) Those movables susceptible of appropriation which are not included in the preceding article;

2) Real property which by any special provision of law is considered as personalty;

3) Forces of nature which are brought under control by science; and

4) In general, all things which can be transported from place to place without impairment of the real property to which they are fixed. (Art. 416, CC)

The following are also considered as personal property:

1) Obligations and actions which have for their object movables or demandable sums; and

2) Shares of stock of agricultural, commercial and industrial entities, although they may have real estate. (Art. 417, CC)

Classification of movable property

Movable property is either consumable or non-consumable. To the first class belong those movables which cannot be used in a manner appropriate to their nature without their being consumed; to the second class belong all the others. (Art. 418, CC)

As to their possibility of being consumed by their use:

1. Consumables - those which cannot be used in a manner appropriate to their nature without their being consumed

2. Non-consumables - those which can be used in a manner appropriate to their nature without their being consumed

As to their possibility of being substituted by others of the same kind and quality:

1. Fungibles - those which can be substituted by others of the same kind and quality

2. Non-fungibles - those which cannot be substituted by others of the same kind and quality

Test to determine whether an object is movable or not

The tests which must be applied successively are:

1. Whether the object can be transported from place to place;

2. Whether the change of location can take place without injury to the immovable to which it may be attached; and

3. Whether it is not included in the enumeration found in Art. 415 of the Civil Code

If the answer to all above questions is in the affirmative, then the object is movable. 

read more...