Property in General

Posted

Art 414. All things which are or may be the object of appropriation are considered either:

  1. Immovable or real property; or
  2. Movable or personal property.

Things

  • Objects external to man
  • Includes both material objects and rights:
    • Corporeal objects (can be perceived by the senses)
    • Incorporeal objects (objects which have only an intellectual or juridical existence)

Property, Defined

  • Defined from the Latin word “proprius” (i.e. belonging to one or one’s own
  • Traditional sense: property extends only to those things which are possessed and found in the possession of man.
  • Civil Code: Property refers to things which are susceptible of appropriation.
    • It is not only confined to things which are already appropriated or possessed by man but also extends to those susceptible of such appropriation, although not yet appropriated.
  • Things which cannot be subjected to human control or by reason of sheer physical impossibility cannot be considered a property.
    • Sun, stars, ocean etc.
    • Forces of nature (lightning or rain)

Requisites for a thing to be considered a property

  1. Susceptibility of appropriation
    • While a things outside the commerce of men cannot be the object of a contract, it can be considered a property (i.e. properties of public dominion)
  2. Utility
    • It can serve as a means to satisfy human needs
  3. Substantivity or Individuality
    • The thing must have an autonomous and separate existence, and not simply a part of a whole.
      • Diamond attached to the ring – one property
      • Diamond is separated from the ring – two separate property

Author