OCCUPATION

OCCUPATION

1. There should be a corporeal thing (tangible) which must have a “corpus” (body) & that thing should have no owner

2. There must be actual occupancy; thing must be subjected to one’s control/disposition

3. There must be an intention to occupy

4. Accomplished according to legal rules

• What are the things susceptible to occupation?

 things that are w/o owner – res nullius; abandoned

 stolen property cannot be subject of occupation

 animals that are the object of hunting & fishing

kinds of animals:

a) wild – considered res nullius when not yet captured; when captured
& escaped – become res nullius again

b) domesticated animals – originally wild but have been captured & tamed; now belong to their capturer; has habit of returning to premises of owner; becomes res nullius if they lose that habit of returning & regain their original state of freedom

c) domestic/tame animals – born & ordinarily raised under the care of people; become res nullius when abandoned by owner

 hidden treasure (only when found on things not belonging to anyone)

 abandoned movables

• Animals:

a) Swarm of bees

- owner shall have right to pursue them to another’s land (owner to identify latter for damages, if any)

- land owner shall occupy/retain the bees if after 2 days, owner did not pursue the bees

b.) Domesticated animals

- may be redeemed within 20 days from occupation of another person; if no redemption made, they shall pertain to the one who caught them

c) Pigeons & fish

- when they go to another breeding place, they shall be owned by the new owner provided they are not enticed

• Movables:

1) Treasure found on another’s property

- consist of (1) money, precious objects & 2) hidden & owner is unknown
- finding must be by chance in order that stranger may be entitled to ½ of the treasure

2) Movable found w/c is not treasure

- must be returned to owner

- if finder retains the thing found – may be charged with theft

- if owner is unknown, give to mayor; mayor shall announce finding of the movable for 2 weeks in way he deems best

- If owner does not appear 6 months after publication, thing found shall be awarded to finder

- if owner appears, he is obliged to pay 1/10 of value of property to finder as price

- if movable is perishable or cannot be kept w/o deterioration or w/o expenses it shall be sold at public auction 8 days after the publication

• What cannot be acquired by occupation

Ownership of a piece of land

 because when a land is without an owner, it pertains to the state

 land that does not belong to anyone is presumed to be public land

 but when a property is private and it is abandoned – can be object of occupation