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Also, the matters contained in the following were written in accordance with the law, rules, and jurisprudence prevailing at the time of writing and posting, and do not include any future developments on the subject matter under discussion.
AT A GLANCE:
Ownership may be acquired by donation, succession, tradition or prescription. (Article 712, Civil Code of the Philippines)
Under the Civil Code, Ownership is acquired by donation, by testate and intestate succession, and in consequence of certain contracts, by tradition. They may also be acquired by means of prescription.
- Donation. Art. 725 of the Civil Code provides that, Donation is an act of liberality whereby a person disposes gratuitously of a thing or right in favor of another, who accepts it;
- Succession or through inheritance;
- Prescription, as when ownership of land is acquired by adverse possession for the period of time required under the law, provided the necessary legal conditions or requisites are present. Prescription is another mode of acquiring ownership and other real rights over immovable property. It is concerned with lapse of time in the manner and under conditions laid down by law, namely, that the possession should be in the concept of an owner, public, peaceful, uninterrupted and adverse. Acquisitive prescription is either ordinary or extraordinary. Ordinary acquisitive prescription requires possession in good faith and with just title for ten years. In extraordinary prescription ownership and other real rights over immovable property are acquired through uninterrupted adverse possession thereof for thirty years without need of title or of good faith.
- Tradition, as a consequence of certain contracts (like the contract of sale, barter, assignment, simple loan or mutuum). A perfected sale does not transmit ownership. It is the delivery or tradition which conveys ownership.
Ownership should not be confused with a certificate of title. Registering land under the Torrens System does not create or vest title, because registration is not a mode of acquiring ownership. A certificate of title is merely an evidence of ownership or title over the particular property described therein.
Source: Heirs of Clemente Ermac vs. Heirs of Vicente Ermac et. al., G.R. No. 149679, May 30, 2003; Gesmundo v. Court of Appeals, 378 Phil. 1099, 1107 [1999]
Read also: What is a deed of sale and what are my rights and duties in line with said document?
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