ARTS 440-444 ACCESSION Outline & DISCRETA
ARTS 440-444 ACCESSION Outline & DISCRETA
ARTS 440-444 ACCESSION Outline & DISCRETA
1. Natural
2. Industrial
3. Civil fruits
A. Industrial Accession
1. Building
2. Planting
3. Sowing
1. Alluvium or Accretion
2. Avulsion
3. Change of river course
4. Formation of Island
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RIGHT OF ACCESSION : Articles 440 – 475
What is the law or principle of the Right of Accession?
Art. 440. The ownership of property gives the right by accession to everything
which is PRODUCED thereby, or which is INCORPORATED or ATTACHED
thereto, either naturally or artificially.
Q. What are some of the Instances when Landowner does not own the fruits but
another party?
a.) Possessor in good faith owns the fruits already received (Art. 544, par.1)
b.) Usufructuary (Art. 566)
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c.) Lessee who gets the fruits of the land
d.) In antichresis contract where the antichretic creditor gets the fruits, but this will be
first to the interest if any is owing, then to the principal sum of the loan. (Art.
2132)
Art. 442. Natural fruits are the spontaneous products of the soil, and the young
and other products of animals.
Civil fruits are the rents of buildings, the price of leases of lands and other
property and the amount of perpetual or life annuities or other similar income.
o Unpaid charges for use of govt. airports and air navigation facilities are civil fruits
that belong to the national govt. as owner, and not to the Civil Aeronautics
Administration, which is only an instrumentality authorized to collect the same.
(Velayo v. Republic L-7915, July 30,1955)
Art. 443. He who receives the fruits has the obligation to pay the expenses made
by a third person in their production, gathering and preservation.
Q. What are these EXPENSES to be paid to the third person under Art. 443?
A. These expenses consist of:
1.) those used for production, gathering, preservation, but not for improvement of
property.
2.) must be necessary, and not luxurious or excessive.
3.) must be commensurate with what is ordinarily required by the product
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• NOTE - Art. 443 applies to a situation when the crops have already been gathered;
the third person referred to is a possessor in bad faith
A person in bad faith who produced, gathered or preserved the fruits of the land may
still be reimbursed by owner -- for without his effort and expenses for production,
gathering or preservation of the fruits these would not have existed for the landowner.
Basis: principle that - “no one shall enrich himself unjustly at the expense of
another.”
How do you reconcile Art. 443 with Art. 449 which provides that: “He who builds,
plants, or sows in bad faith on the land of another, loses what is built, planted, or sown
WITHOUT RIGHT TO INDEMNITY”.
Art. 449 applies only if the crops have NOT YET been gathered. Here the
landowner gets the fruits without indemnity according to the principle of
“ACCESSION CONTINUA” (right to accession by attachment or incorporation)”.
Art. 443 on the other hand applies when the crops have already been gathered,
thus accession continua does not apply.
In the case of Tacas v. Tobon, 53 Phil. 356, the possessor in bad faith was
ordered to return the fruits he had gathered with a right to deduct the expenses
of planting and harvesting.
Nota Bene:
1.) Art. 443 does not apply when the planter is in good faith, for in this case, he is
entitled to the fruits already received before his possession is legally interrupted (see
Art. 544); thus, no reimbursement is necessary.
2.) The 3rd person referred to in Art. 443 is a planter in bad faith, and if the landowner
insists on getting the fruits gathered or harvested, he must reimburse to the planter
in bad faith the following expenses:
used for production, gathering or preservation, not for the improvement of
property.
they must be necessary, and not luxurious or excessive.
must be commensurate with what is ordinarily required by the product
3.) Reimbursement for expenses must still be made to the planter in bad faith, even if
the said fruits have been lost or destroyed or damaged without fault of the other
party.
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Reasons:
a.) the law makes no exception or distinction
b.) the same thing would have happened had the owner been the planter
c.) he who expected advantages must be prepared to shoulder losses
Exception: If the fruits had not yet been gathered, then the planter in bad faith has
no right to indemnity pursuant to Art. 449.
Art. 444. Only such are manifest or born are considered as natural or industrial
fruits.
With respect to animals, it is sufficient that they are in the womb of the
mother, although unborn.
1. Annual Crops (cereals, grains, rice, corn, sugar) – the moment their seedlings
appear from the ground, although the grains have not yet actually appeared.
2. Perrenial Crops (mangoes, oranges, coconuts, etc.) – the moment the fruits
appear on the trees.
o Animals are considered existing when they are in the womb of the mother although
unborn; to be reckoned at the beginning of the maximum ordinary period of
gestation.