OCCUPATION

Category: Property, Ownership and Its Modifications

OCCUPATION

Art. 713. Things appropriable by nature which are without an owner, such as animals that are the object of hunting and fishing, hidden treasure and abandoned movables, are acquired by occupation. (610)

OCCUPATION DEFINED

• Acquisition of ownership by seizing corporeal things that have no owner, made with the intention of acquiring them according to legal rules
  

ESSENTIAL REQUISITES FOR OCCUPATION

1. There must be seizure or apprehension
2. The property seized must be corporeal personal property
3. The property seized must be susceptible of appropriation
4. There must be intent to appropriate
5. The requisites or conditions of the law must be complied with

SOME KINDS OF PROPERTY ACQUIRABLE BY OCCUPATION

1. Those without an owner
2. Hidden treasure
3. Abandoned movables

WHEN THING IS CONSIDERED ABANDONED

1. The expectation to recover is gone—spec recuperandi
2. The intention to return or have it returned has been given up by the owner—animo revertendi

Art. 714. The ownership of a piece of land cannot be acquired by occupation. (n)

REASON FOR THE RULE

When the land is without owner, it pertains to the State

Art. 715. The right to hunt and to fish is regulated by special laws. (611)

Art. 716. The owner of a swarm of bees shall have a right to pursue them to another's land, indemnifying the possessor of the latter for the damage. If the owner has not pursued the swarm, or ceases to do so within two consecutive days, the possessor of the land may occupy or retain the same. The owner of domesticated animals may also claim them within twenty days to be counted from their occupation by another person. This period having expired, they
shall pertain to him who has caught and kept them. (612a)

KINDS OF ANIMALS

1. Wild
2. Domestic
3. Domesticated

ACQUISITION OF DOMESTICATED AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS

1. Domesticated animals may be acquired by occupation unless a claim has been made on them—20 days
2. Domestic animals cannot be acquired by occupation unless there is an abandonment

Art. 717. Pigeons and fish which from their respective breeding places pass to another pertaining to a different owner shall belong to the latter, provided they have not been enticed by some article of fraud. (613a)

Art. 718. He who by chance discovers hidden treasure in another's property shall have the right granted him in article 438 of this Code. (614)

Art. 719. Whoever finds a movable, which is not treasure, must return it to its previous possessor. If the latter is unknown, the finder shall immediately deposit it with the mayor of the city or municipality where the finding has taken place. The finding shall be publicly announced by the mayor for two
consecutive weeks in the way he deems best. If the movable cannot be kept without deterioration, or without expenses which considerably diminish its value, it shall be sold at public auction eight days after the publication. Six months from the publication having elapsed without the owner having appeared, the thing found, or its value, shall be awarded to the finder. The finder and the owner shall be obliged, as the case may be, to reimburse the expenses. (615a)

Art. 720. If the owner should appear in time, he shall be obliged to pay, as a reward to the finder, one-tenth of the sum or of the price of the thing found. (616a)