BOOK II PROPERTY, OWNERSHIP, AND ITS MODIFICATIONS
TITLE II OWNERSHIP
CHAPTER 2 RIGHT OF ACCESSION Articles 440 to 465
Article 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.
SECTION 1
RIGHT OF ACCESSION WITH RESPECT TO WHAT IS PRODUCED BY PROPERTY
Article 441
To the owner belongs: (1) The natural fruits; (2) The industrial fruits; (3) The civil fruits.
Article 442
Natural fruits are the spontaneous products of the soil, and the young and other products of animals.
Industrial fruits are those produced by lands of any kind through cultivation or labor.
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.
Article 443
He who receives the fruits has the obligation to pay the expenses made by a third person in their production, gathering, and preservation.
Article 444
Only such as 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.
SECTION 2
RIGHT OF ACCESSION WITH RESPECT TO IMMOVABLE PROPERTY
Article 445
Whatever is built, planted or sown on the land of another and the improvements or repairs made thereon, belong to the owner of the land, subject to the provisions of the following articles.
Article 446
All works, sowing, and planting are presumed made by the owner and at his expense, unless the contrary is proved.
Article 447
The owner of the land who makes thereon, personally or through another, plantings, constructions or works with the materials of another, shall pay their value; and, if he acted in bad faith, he shall also 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.
Article 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 one 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 pay reasonable rent, if the owner of the land 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.
Article 449
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.
Article 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.
Article 451
In the cases of the two preceding articles, the landowner is entitled to damages from the builder, planter or sower.
Article 452
The builder, planter or sower in bad faith is entitled to reimbursement for the necessary expenses of preservation of the land.
Article 453
If there was bad faith, not only on the part of the person who built, planted or sowed on the land of another, but also on the part of the owner of such land, the rights of one and the other shall be the same as though both had acted in good faith.
It is understood that there is bad faith on the part of the landowner whenever the act was done with his knowledge and without opposition on his part.
Article 454
When the landowner acted in bad faith and the builder, planter or sower proceeded in good faith, the provisions of article 447 shall apply.
Article 455
If the materials, plants or seeds belong to a third person who has not acted in bad faith, the owner of the land shall answer subsidiarily for their value and only in the event that the one who made use of them has no property with which to pay.
This provision shall not apply if the owner makes use of the right granted by article 450. If the owner of the materials, plants or seeds has been paid by the builder, planter or sower, the latter may demand from the landowner the value of the materials and labor.
Article 456
In the cases regulated in the preceding articles, good faith does not necessarily exclude negligence, which gives right to damages under article 2176.
Article 457
To the owners of lands adjoining the banks of rivers belong the accretion which they gradually receive from the effects of the current of the waters.
Article 458
The owners of estates adjoining ponds or lagoons do not acquire the land left dry by the natural decrease of the waters, or lose that inundated by them in extraordinary floods.
Article 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.
Article 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 six months. If such owners claim them, they shall pay the expenses incurred in gathering them or putting them in a safe place.
Article 461
River beds which are abandoned through the natural change in the course of the waters ipso facto belong to the owners whose lands are occupied by the new course in proportion to the area lost. However, the owners of the lands adjoining the old bed shall have the right to acquire the same by paying the value thereof, which value shall not exceed the value of the area occupied by the new bed.
Article 462
Whenever a river, changing its course by natural causes, opens a new bed through a private estate, this bed shall become of public dominion.
Article 463
Whenever the current of a river divides itself into branches, leaving a piece of land or part thereof isolated, the owner of the land retains his ownership. He also retains it if a portion of land is separated from the estate by the current.
Article 464
Islands which may be formed on the seas within the jurisdiction of the Philippines, on lakes, and on navigable or floatable rivers belong to the State.
Article 465
Islands which through successive accumulation of alluvial deposits are formed in non-navigable and non-floatable rivers, belong to the owners of the margins or banks nearest to each of them, or to the owners of both margins if the island is in the middle of the river, in which case it shall be divided longitudinally in halves. If a single island thus formed be more distant from one margin than from the other, the owner of the nearer margin shall be the sole owner thereof.