QUIZ IN USUFRUCT

Questions in civil law and answers:

1.WHAT IS A USUFRUCT? What “jus” pertains to the usufructuary and what “jus” pertains to the naked owner?

Usufruct is defined under Article 562 of the Civil Code in the following wise:

ART. 562. Usufruct gives a right to enjoy the property of another with the obligation of preserving its form and substance, unless the title constituting it or the law otherwise provides.

Usufruct, in essence, is nothing else but simply allowing one to enjoy another’s property. It is also defined as the right to enjoy the property of another temporarily, including both the jus utendi and the jus fruendi, with the owner retaining the jus disponendi or the power to alienate the same.

2. HOW IS A USFURCT EXTINGUISHED? Give and an example of a resolutory condition which extinguishes a usufruct?

ART. 603. Usufruct is extinguished:

(1) By the death of the usufructuary, unless a contrary intention clearly appears;

(2) By expiration of the period for which it was constituted, or by the fulfillment of any resolutory condition provided in the title creating the usufruct;

(3) By merger of the usufruct and ownership in the same person;

(4) By renunciation of the usufructuary;

(5) By the total loss of the thing in usufruct;

(6) By the termination of the right of the person constituting the usufruct;

(7) By prescription. (Emphasis supplied.)

3. Can a usufruct be granted to a corporation for a period of 30 years?

ART. 605. Usufruct cannot be constituted in favor of a town, corporation, or association for more than fifty years. If it has been constituted, and before the expiration of such period the town is abandoned, or the corporation or association is dissolved, the usufruct shall be extinguished by reason thereof. (Emphasis added)

The law clearly limits any usufruct constituted in favor of a corporation or association to 50 years. A usufruct is meant only as a lifetime grant. Unlike a natural person, a corporation or association’s lifetime may be extended indefinitely.

4.What is a contract to SELL?

A contract to sell is one wherein ownership shall be transferred only after the full payment of the installments of the purchase price or the fulfillment of the condition and the execution of a definite or absolute deed of sale. (Joseph & Sons Enterprises, Inc. v. Court of Appeals, 227 Phil. 625 [1986].)

5. Is an action for partition prescriptible? Can it be barred by laches? Is there an exception to this?

An action for partition by its very nature is imprescriptible and cannot be barred by laches x x x. The only exception to the rule on the imprescriptibility of an action for partition is provided in a case where the co-ownership of the properties sought to be partitioned had been properly repudiated by a co-owner at which instance the remedy available to the aggrieved heirs lies not in action for partition but for reconveyance which is subject to the rules on extinctive prescription

QUESTIONS

1. a) What are the requisites for a valid defense of double jeopardy?

b) When does jeopardy of punishment attach?

2. Accused of grave coercion, the petitioner pleaded not guilty on January 23, 1979. After a number of delays caused either by the complainant or the prosecution, trial was again set for August 16, 1979. Postponement again was requested because of alleged sickness of complaint. The defense opposed postponement invoking the right to a speedy trial. The judge “provisionally” dismissed the case because the case had “been dragging all along and the accused (had been) ready for the hearing.” Later, the Fiscal moved to revive the case on the ground that the dismissal was with the conformity of the accused. The accused pleaded double jeopardy. Decide.

3. Accused is charged under RPC 189, (1) for selling pumps to which he had given the appearance of those of another’s. Since there was no proof that he had manufactured the pumps himself, he was acquitted. However, he was ordered prosecuted under RPC 188, (2) for knowingly selling goods with fraudulent trademark. He pleaded double jeopardy. Decide.

4. After trial on the merits, the accused was acquitted for insufficiency of the evidence against him in the cases for murder and frustrated murder and on the finding, in the illegal carrying of firearm, that the act charged did not constitute a violation of law. But the State through a petition for certiorari would want his acquittal reversed. Decide.

5. After being arrested by NBI agents for pilferage of mail matter in the post office, the petitioner and his companions were asked to affix their signatures on the envelopes of the letters, which constitutes the corpus delicti. Appealing his conviction of qualified theft by the Sandiganbayan, the petitioner invokes the Beltran v. Samson, 53 Phil. 570 (1929) ruling in arguing that the signing of his name was not a mere mechanical act but one which required the use of intelligence and therefore constitutes self-incrimination. Decide.

6. a) What is voluntary servitude?

b) What are some exceptions to the rule against involuntary servitude?

7. a) What happens to death penalty already imposed?

b) Now that the Constitution has abolished the death penalty, may the legislature restore it in the future?

c) Is the power of Congress to reimpose the death penalty subsumed under its plenary legislative power?

8. After having obtained a permit from university authorities, students of the Gregorio Araneta University Foundation held a rally but in places around the university other than that specified by the permit. The speeches and other activities resulted in the disturbance of classes and of other activities in the university. After due hearing, a suspension of one year was imposed on the student leaders. The students appealed on the ground that the suspension was violative of their right of assembly and of speech. Decide.

9. A land buyer buys a lot with an annotated lien that the lot owner becomes an automatic member of the homeowner’s association. Does such an annotation violative the right freely to join or not to join associations?

10. a) Is the right to have counsel present during investigation intended to stop the accused from saying anything that may incriminate him?

b) Accused was made to undergo a paraffin test of his hands to determine whether he had recently fired a gun. Accused claims violation of his constitutional right as it was not conducted in the presence of his lawyer.

QUESTIONS

1. Is a treaty self-executing, or does it require a further legislative or executive act to be a source of legal rights and obligations?

2. In the hierarchy of rules in the Philippine legal system, how does a treaty stand in relation to the Constitution? May courts declare a treaty unconstitutional?

3. May the President or his representatives in on-going treaty negotiations be required to open the negotiation sessions to the press, reveal the agreed points so far achieved, and disclose to the public the positions of each side in unresolved issues, in the interest of freedom of speech and of the press as well as of the right to information on matters of public concern?

4. Reiterating in the same language its approach in Philip Morris v. Court of Appeals (224 SCRA 576), the Supreme Court in Mighty Corporation v. Gallo Winery (GR No. 154342, July 14, 2004) declares:

“Following universal acquiescene and comity, our municipal law on trademarks regarding the requirement of actual use in he Philippines must subordinate an international agreement inasmuch as the apparent clash is being decided by a municipal tribunal. . . Withal, the fact that international law has been made part of the law of the land does not by any means imply the primacy of international law over national law in the municipal sphere. Under the doctrine of incorporation as applied in the most countries, rules of international law are given a standing equal not superior to legislative enactments” (emphasis added).

doctrine

5. In the conventional international law of extradition, what is meant by the attentat clause?

6. What are the formal requirements by which the act declaring invalid, terminating, withdrawing from or suspending the operation of a treaty shall be carried out?

7. May a treaty be terminated on the ground of fundamental change of circumstances (rebus sic stantibus)?

8. a) In the context of the law of treaties, what is a third State?

b) May a treaty create rights or obligations for a third State without its consent?

9. As a general rule, does a treaty have retroactive applications?

10. what is an exequatur?