Civil Heritage and Property Rights
Unit 1: Civil Heritage
Concept
Heritage encompasses a person’s property, rights, duties, and obligations with monetary value and legal universality.
Content
Assets
Assets are a person’s property and rights with monetary value, constituting a totality of facts.
Liabilities
Liabilities represent the prevalence of assets over liabilities, enabling property owners to meet their commitments.
Economic Phenomena
Solvency
Solvency occurs when assets exceed liabilities, allowing individuals to fulfill their heritage commitments.
Insolvency
Insolvency arises when liabilities surpass assets, hindering the fulfillment of obligations.
Heritage Classification
By Shape
- Legal Universality: Encompasses all property, rights, duties, and obligations.
- Universality of Fact: Addresses the preceding elements individually.
By Use
- Common Heritage: Assets usable by the owner or anyone.
- Heritage in Operation: Assets intended to halt transmission due to a juridical act, death, or corporate dissolution.
- Heritage in Liquidation: Assets intended for transmission due to a legal act, individual death, or corporate dissolution.
Theories
- Heritage Personality: Subjective (formal or ideal) where property is attached to individuals as an attribute and is only transferable upon death.
- Heritage Affectation: Objective and transferable during life or death (e.g., seizure and auction of goods in a lawsuit).
Unit 2: Property
Classification of Goods
- Legal: Pertaining to individuals.
- Economic: Possessing monetary value.
- Purpose: Related to conduct or things.
- Thing: Probable or improbable.
Real Rights and Personal Rights
Property Law
The legal relationship between a person (superior) and a thing/good (subordinate), granting the person the right to use the asset.
Real Rights
Examples include ownership, co-ownership, usufruct, use, easement, loan, pledge, anticresis, long lease, registered census, surface right, copyright, and industrial property.
Personal Law
A legal relationship of equality between two persons: a creditor (with the power to charge) and a debtor (obligated to pay).
- Credit: A creditor’s right to demand a benefit (give, do, or not do) from a debtor.
- Obligation: A debtor’s legal requirement to grant a benefit (give, do, or not do) to a creditor.
Classification of Obligations
- Propter Rem: Fulfilled by delivering the thing.
- In Faciendo: Met by providing a service, performing an action, or abstaining from an action.
- Escriptae in Rem: Resolved through written documentation required by law for the delivery of a thing.
Theories
- Monistic: Favors the supremacy of one legal relation (personalistic or realistic).
- Dualist: Considers real and personal rights equally important and independent.
- Economic: Emphasizes the monetary value of real and personal rights.
Unit 3: Possession
Concept
The factual power exercised over something for personal gain.
Classification of Possession
By Source
- Original: Grants ownership through a contract.
- Derivative: Generated by a contract that doesn’t convey ownership, only use and enjoyment.
By Content
- Ownership of Property: Control over tangible assets.
- Ownership of Rights: Control over intangible assets (powers and duties).
Elements of Possession
- Corpus: The physical thing (objective element).
- Animus: The intent to possess (subjective element).
Acquisition and Loss of Possession
Possession is acquired when corpus and animus combine and lost when either or both are absent.
Subordinate Deforcement
Exercising control over another’s goods with limited powers (e.g., depositary, executor, trustee, auditor).
Root Cause
The legal basis for possession (e.g., inheritance, contracts transferring ownership).
Fair Title
Proof of ownership (e.g., notarized deed for real estate, bills for movable property).
Unit 4: Prescription
Definition
Acquiring goods or eliminating obligations through time and legal conditions.
Classification
- Positive Prescription: Acquisition of assets through possession.
- Negative Prescription: Release from unenforceable obligations.
Requirements
- In the owner’s opinion
- Peaceful
- Continuous
- Public
Movable Property
Prescribed in three years (good faith) or five years (lack of good faith).
Negative Prescription
Extinguishes the right to demand compliance after ten years.
Unit 5: Co-ownership
Definition
Two or more people have joint and indivisible power over a good or right.
Aliquot Part
The ideal portion belonging to each owner.
Principles
Decisions are made through ballots (majority for administration, unanimous for domain transfer).
Right of Both
Co-owners’ preferential right to acquire a share offered for sale.
Withdrawal
An owner’s right to offer their share for sale.
Unit 6: Usufruct
Concept
The real right to enjoy and use another’s goods without altering them.
Usufructuary’s Capacity
The usufructuary has the right to use and exploit the property, but not to own it.
Usufructuary’s Obligations
Includes inventory, bond, paying contributions, repairs, accountability, and returning the property.
Extinction
Occurs upon death, deadline, consolidation, statute of limitations, waiver, loss of the thing, etc.
Unit 7: Use and Habitation
Use
The temporary, life-long right to use property without alteration.
Habitation
The right to live in parts of a house for free.
Extinction
Similar to usufruct.
Unit 8: Easements
Concept
A real right imposed on a property (servient estate) for the benefit of another (dominant estate).
Classification
By source, subject, location, content, and identity.
Extinction
Through consolidation, deactivation, abandonment, referral, expiration, or compliance with a condition.