PROVISIONS COMMON TO THE THREE PRECEDING CHAPTERS

 
Art. 426. Whenever by provision of the law, or an individual declaration, the expression "immovable things or property," or "movable things or property," is used, it shall be deemed to include, respectively, the things enumerated in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.

Whenever the word "muebles," or "furniture," is used alone, it shall not be deemed to include money, credits, commercial securities, stocks and bonds, jewelry, scientific or artistic collections, books, medals, arms, clothing, horses or carriages and their accessories, grains, liquids and merchandise, or other things which do not have as their principal object the furnishing or ornamenting of a building, except where from the context of the law, or the individual declaration, the contrary clearly appears. 

 Discussion:

The first paragraph of the article explains itself. Muebles is used synonymously with furniture. Note that furniture has generally for its principal object the furnishing or ornamenting of a building.
 

Property of Private Ownership

Article 425. Property of private ownership, besides the patrimonial property of the State, provinces, cities, and municipalities, consists of all property belonging to private persons, either individually or collectively.

Discussion:

Collectively refers to ownership by private individuals as co-owners; or by corporations, partnerships, or other juridical persons such as foundations who are allowed by the Civil Code to possess and acquire properties. Possession by private individuals since time immemorial carries the presumption that the land had never been part of the public domain, or that it had been private property even before the Spanish conquest.  

Property for Public use

Article 424. Property for public use, in the provinces, cities, and municipalities, consist of the provincial roads, city streets, municipal streets, the squares, fountains, public waters, promenades, and public works for public service paid for by said provinces, cities, or municipalities.

All other property possessed by any of them is patrimonial and shall be governed by this Code, without prejudice to the provisions of special laws.

Discussion:

In the case of State Properties, properties for public service are of public dominion; this is not so in the case of provinces, cities, etc., said properties for public service are patrimonial since they are not for public use.  

Property of Provinces, Cities and Municipalities

Article 423. The property of provinces, cities, and municipalities is divided into property for public use and patrimonial property.

Discussion:

Properties of a political subdivision for public use cannot be alienated as such, and may not be acquired by prescription, and properties of a political subdivision which are patrimonial in character may be alienated, and may be acquired by others thru prescription.

 

When is public dominion is no longer for public use

Article 422. Property of public dominion, when no longer intended for public use or for public service, shall form part of the patrimonial property of the State.


Discussion:

Conversion of property of public dominion to patrimonial property: Entities that may Effect the change. For example, in Faustino Ignacio vs. Dir. of lands, the supreme court, citing natividad vs. Dir. of lands, said that only the executive and possibly the legislative departments have the authority and power to make the declaration that any land so gained by the sea is not necessary for purposes of public utility, or for the establishment of special industries or for coast guard services. 

Patrimonial Property

Article 421. All other property of the State, which is not of the character stated in the preceding article, is patrimonial property.

Discussion:


Patrimonial Property of the State is the property it owns but which is not devoted to public use, public services, or the development of the national wealth. It is wealth owned by the state in its private as distinguished from its public capacity. 

Property of Public Dominion

Article 420. The following things are property of public dominion:

 
(1) Those intended for public use, such as roads, canals, rivers, torrents, ports and bridges constructed by the State, banks, shores, road steads, and others of similar character; 


(2) Those which belong to the State, without being for public use, and are intended for some public service or for the development of the national wealth.

Discussion:


In a sense, public dominion means ownership by the State in that the State has control and administration; in another sense, public dominion means ownership by the public in general, in that not even the state or subdivisions thereof may make them the object of commerce as long as they remain properties for public use. Such is the case for example of a river or a town plaza. 

Property is either public or private ownership

CHAPTER 3 PROPERTY IN RELATION TO THE PERSON TO WHOM IT BELONGS  
Art. 419. Property is either of public dominion or of private ownership.

Discussion:


Property are classified according to ownership. This article expressly states that properties are owned either in a public capacity or in a private capacity. Regarding the state, it may own properties both in its public capacity and in its private capacity. 

It's either consumable or nonconsumable

consumable

 

 Article 418. Movable property is either consumable or nonconsumable. 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.

Discussion:

Consumable cannot be used according to its nature without its being consumed and non-consumable are any other kind of movable property.

 

personal agriculture properties

Art. 417. 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. 

Discussion:

It is clearly stated here that an owner’s share of stocks in the agricultural, commercial and industrial entities are considered personal property.
If somebody steals your car, your right to bring an action to recover the automobile is personal property by itself. This is because your object of right is an immovable. A promisory note is personal property, the right to collect it is also personal property by analogy. Even if the sole property of a corporation should consist only of a real property, a share of stock in said corporation is considered personal property.

 

Personal Properties

CHAPTER 2 MOVABLE PROPERTY  

Art. 416. 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 personal property;

(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. (335a)

Discussions:
(1) There are many examples of  various kinds of personal property, such as a fountain pen, a piano and animals.

 (2) Growing crops for the purposes or the Chattel Mortgage Law; machinery placed on a tenement by a tenant, who did not act as the agent of the tenement owner.
(3)  Electricity, gas, light, nitrogen are the examples of this under control of science.
(4) Machinery not attached to land nor needed for the carrying on of an industry conducted therein; portable radio; a diploma hanging on the wall.

Contracts for public works

Article 415
10) Contracts for public works, and servitudes and other real rights over immovable property. (334a)

costruction of roads

Discussion:

Under the old Civil Code the words "administrative concessions for public works" were used instead of " contracts for public works". The properties referred to are not material things but rights, which are necessarily intangible. The piece of paper on which the contract for public works has been written is necessarily personal property, but the contract itself, or rather, the right to the contract, is real property.

Floating on River, lake or coast

Article 415
(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;

DOCKS

Discussion:
A floating house tied to a shore or bank post and used as a residence is considered real property, considering that the waters on which it floats are considered immovables. Vessels are considered personal property. As a matter of fact, they are indeed very movable. Because they are personal property, they may be the subject of a chattel mortgage. Although vessels are personal property, they partake to a certain extent of the nature and the conditions of real property because of their value and importance in the world of commerce.

mines, Quarries, Slag Dumps

Article 415
(8) Mines, quarries, and slag dumps, while the matter thereof forms part of the bed, and waters either running or stagnant;

Discussion:
Mines, including the minerals still attached thereto, are real properties, but when the minerals have been extracted, the latter become chattels. Slag dump is the dirt and soil taken from a mine and piled upon the surface of the ground. inside the dump can be found the minerals. Then, the waters referred to those still attached to or running thru the soil or ground. but still, the water itself as distinguished from waters, is clearly personal property.

slag dump

Land Fertilizing

Article 415
(7) Fertilizer actually used on a piece of land;


Discussion:


Fertilizers still in the barn and even those already on the ground but wrapped inside some newspapers or in any other covering are still be considered personal property, for they have not yet been actually used or spread over the land.

Houses of animals are considered immovable

Article 415

(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;

Discussion:

The houses referred to here may already be deemed included in the section 1 when we speak of constructions of all kinds adhered to the soil. in as much as there used to be doubts before as to whether or not the animals in the houses are included as real property, the Code Commission decided to eliminate confusion of that matter. it is submitted that even if the animals are temporarily outside, they may still be considered as real property, as long as the intent to return is present, as in the case of a homing pigeon. but, a temporary bird cage easily removable, or which may be carried from place to place, is a chattel. the birds inside are also chattel.

"A building with machinery, receptacles and instruments"

Article 415

(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;

Discussion:

The placing must be made by the owner of the tenement, his agent, or duly authorized legal representative. The industry or works must be carried on in the building or on the land. A transportation business is not carried on in the building or in the compound. The machines must be essential and principal elements in the industry, and not merely incidental.

How thing became immovable?

IMMOVABLE PROPERTY
Article 415 

 (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;

Discussion:
When an object is attached permanently it is automatically immovable.
  

STATUTE

Article 415
(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;

Discussion:

A concrete example of this is a fixed statue in the garden of a house, a permanent painting on the ceiling, a picture embedded in the concrete walls of a house, a rug or a carpet fastened to the floor, as in the case of wall to wall carpeting. The objects must be placed by the owner of the immovable and not necessarily by the owner of the object. Of course the owner of the building or land may act thru his agent, or if he be insane, thru his duly appointed guardian.

PAINTING

LAND

BUILDING

CHAPTER 1

IMMOVABLE PROPERTY

Art. 415. The following are immovable property:

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

Discussion:

        " Land is the best example of immovable property. It's immovable by its very nature and even the land moved by an earthquake, an extra ordinary happening, it should still be considered immovable. a shovelful of land however, should be considered personal property, since this no longer adheres to the soil. If land is rented, it is still immovable in that sense. Buildings also considered immovable provided they are more or less of permanent structure."

ROAD

What's The Importance of Classifying Property Into Immovables and Movables?

Republic Act No. 386

The Civil Code of the Philippines

AN ACT TO ORDAIN AND INSTITUTE THE CIVILCODE OF THE PHILIPPINES

BOOK II

PROPERTY, OWNERSHIP, AND ITS MODIFICATIONS

Title I. - CLASSIFICATION OF PROPERTY

PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS

best example of IMMOVABLE PROPERTY

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

soil; it's a MOVABLE PROPERTY

(1) Immovable or real property; or

(2) Movable or personal property. (333)

Discussion:

           

               "The classification of property into immovables or movables does not  assume its importance from the fact of mobility or non-mobility, but from the fact that different provisions of the law govern the acquisition, possession, disposition, loss, and registration of immovables and movables. In general sense, a donation of real property, like the land, must be in a public instrument, otherwise the alienation will not be valid even as between the parties to the transaction."