Understanding Real Rights and Possession in Property Law
Item 17: Real Rights
So far, we have seen credit or personal rights relating to the obligation of the debtor, while property rights are defined by the ratio of a person holding about one thing. This implies a duty of respect for all others from its ownership by such owner, so they are said to be absolute rights.
We said that the receivable was a relative one between the creditor and the debtor. Here, the right of the holder, such as suppliers, holds the owner against all others. The classification of real rights is between the absolute right to property, which is the right, and, on the other, limited real rights, so named because they limit another’s property. The holder has a right in an asset that is not owned.
Limited rights are of three kinds: rights of enjoyment, security rights, and acquisition rights. We’ll deal with these in Item 20. These rights are extinguished by:
- Voluntarily: By abandonment of the thing.
- Involuntarily: If anything is destroyed.
Especially, the limited rights are extinguished to recover property that had limited those functions. This is called consolidation, which is the recovery of the property for such functions. For example, a property may be restricted by a usufruct (use and enjoyment of the thing by others), for example, for life. When the usufructuary dies (the thing enjoyed by others), the recovered property that had no function, i.e., the usufructuary can never become an owner. The limited right is extinguished forever to finish recovering the owner by consolidation.
Item 18: Possession
Keep in mind that possession is a fact, not a right. It is a legal fact, basically because it has three functions:
- Role of Appearance: Anyone who has something can be the owner, or not.
- Role of Remedy: There are actions in favor of the holder against those who disturb him of his possession. These actions have a time limitation of one year and only yield compared to the true owner. The owner has going for what is called the claim filed to recover the thing, which means the holder is not the owner, and the owner has legal protection against the rest. This action is given unless there has been usurpation.
- Legitimate Function: Anyone who has peacefully, without violence, publicly (not illegally), without tolerance or consent of the owner, may end up being the owner if he has continuously for the statutory period. What is the legal term?
It may be in three years if there is good faith and fair title, which is believed to possess the right owner and title (which has acquired a title by which it may be proprietary). For example, you received an inheritance from your father, a clock that has been stolen, but you do not know. In three years, it could be yours. You’ve received an inheritance and, in good faith, thought it was your father’s property.
If these two requirements are met, good faith and fair title, it would be six years for personal property.
For real estate, without good faith and fair title, it is 30 years. Thirty years is also the deadline prescribed by the action of the owner. In Catalonia, it is 20 years.
Example: If I’m 30 years in Spain and 20 in Catalonia owning a property without the owner’s intervention.
The Extraordinary: If there is good faith and just title (we inherited our father’s field, but really our father had taken it from the neighbor, but we did not know).
Here, the law distinguishes if it is between these, i.e., the owner and holder are in the same locality, 10 years.
Or between absent, outside the resort, such as the owner has gone abroad, 20 years.