Article 1164

Article 1164

The creditor has a right to the fruits of the thing from the time the obligation to deliver it arises. However, he shall acquire no real right over it until the same has been delivered to him.

Real rights (jus in re)

-  A power over a specific thing (like the right of ownership or possession) and is binding on the whole world. Non nudis pactis, sed traditionis dominia rerym transferatur.  As a consequence of certain contracts, it is not agreement but tradition or delivery that transfers ownership.

Personal rights (jus in personam or jus ad rem)

- Power demandable by one person of another – to give, to do or not to do.

Need for Tradition or Delivery –

The transfer of the ownership in the contract of such transfer, does not produce the effect by the fact of the mere consent, but is acquired by tradition and in the due observance of general precepts. A creditor or a vendee cannot acquire a real right when the obligation to deliver arises. He can only have a personal right to demand the delivery but no real rights until the said thing is delivered to him. A contract which is simulated or genuine one, where there is no delivery of the object, does not transfer ownership.

TITLE

THE FIDELITY AND DEPOSIT COMPANY OF MARYLAND,

plaintiff-appellant,
vs.
WILLIAM A. WILSON, ET AL., defendants-appellees.

Hartigan, Marple, Rohde & Gutierrez for appellant.
F.G. Waite and H.D. Terrell for appellees.

MAPA, J.:

FACTS

Defendant Wilson was, on the 1st of October, 1902, an employee of the Government of the Philippine Islands, as disbursing officer of the Bureau of Coast Guard and Transportation. For the security of the Government the plaintiff company and another company. The American Surety Company of New York, became sureties on the official bond of Wilson for the sum of $ 15,000, United State currency. Wilson defaulted in the sum of $ 8,931.80, United States currency, and the said two surety companies, after demand duly made upon them by the Government, were compelled to pay and, as a matter of fact, did pay to said Government, in accordance with said bond, the sum of $ 4,465.90, United States currency, each. Wilson, who had left the Philippine Islands, was captured in the city of Montreal, Canada, for the purpose of being tried before the courts of the Philippine Islands for the defalcation of said sum. When apprehended Wilson had on his person the sum of $ 785 in gold. On October 17, 1904, the plaintiff filed a complaint against Wilson the money that was confiscated from Wilson was transferred to the care of Mr. Branagan the Insular Treasurer. On October 26, 1904, H.D. Terrell filed a complaint as intervenor in the case, alleging that on September 3, of the same year, the defendant Wilson had ceded and transferred to the said Terrell all of his, the said Wilson's rights in and to the said $785 in payment on account of a larger sum then owed by said Wilson to the said H.D. Terrell for professional services already rendered and to be rendered as attorney for said Wilson. Terrell claims the right of ownership in and to the said sum and asks that the same be delivered to him as the legitimate owner to the exclusion of the other parties in the case. The Trial court rendered a decision in favour of Terrell awarding the rights to the money in question. The Plaintiff, The Fidelity and Deposit Company appealed  and said that the court erred in rendering judgment in favor of the intervenor H.D. Terrell for the $785 in the hands of the depositary. The Supreme court reversed the decision of the lower court and that the payment and delivery of said funds be made to Terrell and to the appellant.

Issue

Whether or not the lower court erred in granting the intervenor the ownership of the amount in question.

Rulings

" The ownership and other property rights are acquired and transmitted by law, by gift, by testate or intestate succession, and, in consequence of certain contracts, by tradition." And as the logical application of this disposition article 1095 prescribes the following: "A creditor has the rights to the fruits of a thing from the time the obligation to deliver it arises. However, he shall not acquire a real right." (and the ownership is surely such) "until the property has been delivered to him."

Held

Yes, because even thou the intervenor have a written agreement which was executed by the Wilson giving his rights, there was no delivery took place. Even he has a personal right to demand from Wilson the said agreement still he has no real rights over it until it is delivered to him.

Many thanks & God bless.