Art.

420: The following things are property of public dominion:

1. Those intended for public use, such as roads, canals, rivers, torrents and bridges constructed by the State,
banks shores, and roadsteads, and others of similar character;
2. Those which belong to the state, without being for public use, and are intended for some public service of for
the development of the national wealth.

Public dominion Means the ownership by the State in that the State has control and administration. In
another sense, mean ownership by the public in general, in that not even the State or its subdivisions thereof
may make them the object of commerce as long as they remain properties for public use.

3 Kinds of Public Dominion:

a) For public use like roads, canals (maybe used by anybody).

b) For public service Like national government buildings, army rifles, army vessels (may be used by
duly authorized persons).
c) For development of national wealth Like our natural resources.
Par. 1. : And others of similar character :
a) Public streams
b) Natural beds of rivers
c) River channels
d) Waters of rivers
e) Creeks because creek is no other than an arm extending from a river.
f) All lands thrown up by the sea formed by accretion upon the shore by the action of the water, together with
the adjacent shore.
g) Lands reclaim from the sea by the government.
h) The Manila bay area or coastal area inasmuch as it belongs to the state, and is used as waterway.
i) Private lands which have been invaded by the waters or waves of the sea and converted into portion of the
shore or beach. Since the private owner here loses his property in favor of the state without any compensation,
the occurrence has been referred to as a case of DE FACTO CASE of eminent domain.
j) Streets, even when planted by persons with the coconut trees.
Shore That space alternately covered and uncovered by the movement of the tide.
Torrent That amounts of water which in case of heavy rains gathers in deep places or canals where it is supposed to
flow afterwards.
Characteristics of Public Dominion:
a) They are outside the commerce of man, and cannot be leased, donated, sold or be the object of any contract.
b) They cannot be acquired by prescription; no matter how long the possession of the property has been, there
can be no prescription against the State regarding property of the public domain.
c) They cannot be registered under the land Registration Law and be the subject of the Torrens Title; if
erroneously included in the Torrens Title, the land involve remains property of public dominion.
d) They, are as well as their usufruct, cannot be levied upon by execution nor can they be attached.
e) In general, they can be used by everybody.
f) They may be either real or personal property, for it will be noted that the law here makes no distinction.
Public lands The national domain under the Legislative Power of Congress as has not been subjected to private
right or devoted to public use. They are part of the government lands which are thrown open to appropriation and
settlement by homestead and other like general laws.
Art. 421: All other property of the State, which is not of the character stated in the preceding article, is
patrimonial property.
Patrimonial Property of the State The property it owns but which is not devoted to public use, public service, or
the development of the national wealth. It is wealth owned by the State in its private, as distinguished from its public,
capacity.
Example of Patrimonial Property:
a) Friar lands They may be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of Act 1120.
b) The San Lazaro Estate This may be disposed of, and is governed by Act 2360 as amended by Act 2478.
c) Properties obtained by the government in escheat proceedings (as when there is no legal heir of the decedent)
or those inherited by or donated to the Government. Rents of building owned by the State.
d) A municipal-owned waterworks system.
Art 428: The owner has the right to enjoy and dispose of a thing, without other limitations than those
established by law.
The owner also has the right of action against the holder or possessor of the thing in order to recover
it.
Jus possidendi the right to possess.
Jus utendi the right to use.
Jus fruendi the right to the fruit.
Jus abutendi the right to consume
Jus disponendi the right to dispose
Jus vindicandi the right to recover.
The right to possess Means the right to hold a thing or to enjoy a right.
Replevin (action to recover a movable property) The proper action to recover a property. Defined as an action or
provisional remedy where the complainant prays for the recovery of the possession of personal property,
Three usual actions to recover the possession of (immovable) real property:
1. Forcible entry or unlawful detainer (either action was formerly referred to as action interdictal) The
action that must be brought when possession by a landlord, vendor, vendee or other person of any land or
building is being unlawfully withheld after the expiration or termination of the right to hold possession by
virtue of any contract, express or implied.
ONE YEAR PRESCIPTIVE PERIOD:
If there is a fixed period for the termination of the lease, the lease ends automatically without the need
of any demand; hence, the one-year period begins from the expiration of the lease.
If the reason for ejectment is non-payment of the rent or the non-fulfillment of the conditions of the
lease, the one-year period must be counted from the date of the demand to vacate.
2. Accion publiciana (or the plenary action to recover the better right of possession)
3. Accion reivindicatoria (or reivindicatory action) an action to recover a real property.
ADDITIONAL:
1. Writ of preliminary injunction -- an order granted at any stage of an action or proceeding prior to the
judgment or final order, requiring a party or a court, agency or a person to refrain from a particular act or
acts.
2. Writ of possession -- a court order that tells the Sheriff to put you, everything you own, and everyone in
your household out of the place where you live. The Writ gives you 24 hours to move out. The 24 hour
time period starts from the time the Writ of Possession is posted on your door.
Art. 429: The owner or lawful possessor of a thing has the right to exclude any person from enjoyment and
disposal thereof. For this purpose, he may use such force as may be reasonably necessary to repel or prevent
and actual or threatened unlawful physical invasion or usurpation of his property.
Principle of self - help: elements
a) The person exercising the right is owner or lawful possessor
b) There is actual or threatened unlawful physical invasion of his property.
c) Use force as may be reasonably necessary to repel or prevent it.
 Available only when possession is not yet been lost. If already lost- resort to judicial process.
May be exercised by 3rd person negotiorum gestio --. (Latin for "management of business") is a
form of spontaneous voluntary agency in which an intervenor or intermeddler, the gestor, acts on
behalf and for the benefit of a principal (dominus negotii), but without the latter's prior consent
Art. 447: The owner of the land who makes thereon, personally or through another, planting, construction, or
works with the materials of another, shall pay their value; and if he acted in bad faith, he shall be obliged to the
reparation of damages. The owner of the materials shall have the right to remove them only in case he can do
so without injury to the work constructed, or without the plantings, constructions or works being destroyed.
However, if the landowner acted in bad faith, the owner of the materials may remove them in any event, with a
right to be indemnified for damages.
Art. 448: The owner of the land on which anything has been built, sown or planted in good faith, shall have the
right to appropriate as his own the works, sowing or planting after payment of the indemnity provided for in
articles 546 and 548, or to oblige the own who built or planted to pay the price of the land and the one who
sowed, the proper rent. However, the builder or planter cannot be obliged to buy the land if its value is
considerably more than that of the building or trees. In such case, he shall he shall pay reasonable rent, if the
owner does not choose to appropriate the building or trees after proper indemnity. The parties shall agree upon
the terms of the lease and in case of disagreement, the court shall fix the terms thereof.
Art. 450: The owner of the land on which anything has been built ,planted or sown in bad faith may demand
the demolition of the work, or that the planting or sowing be removed, in order to replace things in their
former condition at the expense of the person who built, planted, or sowed, or he may compel the builder or
planter to pay the price of the land, and the sower the proper rent.
Art. 457: To the owners of lands adjoining the banks of rivers belong that accretion which they gradually
receive from the current of the waters.
Forms of accession natural:
1) Alluvium (alluvio) --- the soil deposited to (accretion) the lands adjoining the banks of rivers, and gradually
received as an effect of the current of the waters.
Requisites:
a) Deposit is gradual and imperceptible
b) Made through effects of current of water
c) Land where accretion takes place is adjacent to banks of river.
2) Avulsion ( force of the river ) (delayed accession) - transfer of known portion of land from one tenement to
another by force of current of waters.
Rights of riparian owner:
a) Right to portion of land transferred if not claimed by owner within 2 years. (prescription)
b) Right to trees uprooted if not claimed by owner within 6 months; subject to
reimbursement for necessary expenses for gathering them and putting them in safe place.
3) Change of river
Rights of owner of land occupied by new river course
1. Right to old bed ipso facto in proportion to area lost
2. Owner of adjoining land to old bed shall have right to acquire the same by paying its
value value not to exceed the value of area occupied by new bed.
3. Formation of island in non-navigable river
a) Owner of margin nearest to islands formed if nearest it.
b) Owner of both margins if islands is in the middle ( divided into halves
longitudinally)
4. Building, planting and sowing.
Art. 459: Whenever the current of a river, creek, or torrent segregates from an estate on its bank a known
portion of land and transfers it to another estate, the owner of the land to which the segregated portion
belonged retains the ownership of it, provided that he removes the same within two years.
River - a natural stream of water, of greater volume than a creek or rivulet flowing in a more or less permanent bed or
channel, between defined banks or walls with a current which may either be continuous in one direction or affected by
the ebb and flow of the tide.
Creek a small stream less than a river, a recess or inlet in the shore of a river, and not a separate or independent
stream, though it is sometimes used in the latter meaning.
Torrent a violent, rushing or turbulent stream.
Art. 460: Trees uprooted and carried away by the current of the waters belong to the owner of the land upon
which they may be cast, if the owners do not claim them within 6 months. If such owners claim them, they shall
pay the expenses incurred in the gathering them or putting them in a safe place.
Art. 474: One who in good faith employs the material of another in whole or in part in order to make a thing of
a different kind, shall appropriate the thing thus transformed as his own, indemnify the owner of the material
for its value.
If the material is more precious than the transformed thing or is of more value, its owner may, at his
option, appropriate the new thing to himself, after first paying indemnity for the value of the work, or demand
the indemnity for the material.
If in the making of the thing bad faith intervened, the owner of the material shall have the right to
appropriate the work to himself without paying anything to the maker, or to demand of the latter that he
indemnify him for the value of the material and the damages he may have suffered. However, the owner of the
material cannot appropriate the work in case the value of the latter, for artistic or scientific reasons, is
considerably more than that of the material.