Libro Segundo Título I. De los bienes

Things that are or may be subject to appropriation are property, and are classified as immovable and movable.

All things that are not excluded from commerce by their nature or by provision of law may be the object of appropriation.

Outside commerce by their nature are those that cannot be exclusively possessed by any person, and by provision of law, those that it declares irreducible to private ownership.

The following are immovable property:

1°.The soil, the subsoil, the airspace, mines while they have not been extracted, and waters found on the surface or within the earth;

2°.Trees and plants while they are united to the land, and unharvested fruits;

3°.Constructions adhered to the soil in a fixed and permanent manner;

4°.Pipes conducting water, gas or electricity, incorporated into the immovable;

5°.Railways and their tracks; telegraph and telephone lines, and fixed radiotelegraph stations;

6°.Piers, and docks and constructions which, even when floating, are intended by their object and conditions to remain at a fixed point of a river, lake or coast; and

7°.Animal nurseries, dovecotes, apiaries, fish ponds or analogous breeding places, when the owner has placed them or keeps them with the purpose of keeping them permanently united to the estate.

For legal purposes, rights in rem over immovable property and the actions securing them are considered immovable property.

That which cannot be separated without destroying, deteriorating, or altering the property itself is an integral part of a property.

The materials that have been separated while repairs are being made do not lose their character as an integral part of a building.

Anything permanently applied to the economic purpose of the property and in a relation corresponding to that purpose is an accessory thereof.

Temporary separation of the properties does not cause them to lose such status.

The integral parts and accessories of a property follow the condition thereof, except in cases in which the law or the contract permits their differentiation.

The following are movable property:

1°.Property that can be moved from one place to another, without impairment of such property or of the immovable where it is placed;

2°.Constructions on another's land, made for a temporary purpose;

3°.Natural forces susceptible of appropriation;

4°.The shares or quotas and bonds of share companies, even when they are constituted to acquire immovables, or for building or other dealings in this class of property;

5°.Credit rights relating to movables, money or personal services, and

6°.Author's or inventor's rights comprised in literary, artistic and industrial property.

When the words movables or movable property of a house are used, those that serve exclusively and properly for the ordinary use of a family, according to the circumstances of the persons comprising it, shall be understood to be included. Consequently, books, money, jewels, documents, credit papers, medals, arms, instruments of arts and trades, clothing, grains and animals shall not be understood to be included.

Materials derived from the destruction of a building that are not used in repairs thereof and those gathered for the construction of a new one are movables while they are not employed in the construction.

Movable property is fungible if it can be substituted by others of the same kind, quality and quantity; and non-fungible are those that cannot be replaced by others of the same qualities.

Live animals are movable property; but animals placed in the service of the exploitation of an estate are deemed immovables.

Property is in the domain of public power or is owned by private persons.

Property of the domain of public power belongs to the State or to the municipalities and is divided into property of common public use and of special use.

Are national property for common public use:

1°.Streets, parks, squares, roads and bridges that are not private property,

2°.Ports, docks, landing places, pontoons and other works for general use, constructed or acquired by the State or the municipalities;

3°.Waters of the territorial maritime zone to the extent and on the terms fixed by the respective law; navigable and floatable lakes and rivers and their banks, rivers, springs and streams that serve as a boundary to the national territory; falls and sources of water for industrial use, in the manner established by the law on the matter; and waters not used by private individuals; and

4°.The maritime-terrestrial zone of the Republic, the continental shelf, the airspace and the stratosphere to the extent and in the manner determined by law.

The following are national property of non-common use:

1°.Those intended for the service of the State, of the municipalities and of the decentralized State entities, and the others that constitute their patrimony;

2°.Those of public use, when they cease to be so in fact or by virtue of a law;

3°.The fiscal and municipal revenues;

4°.The subsoil, hydrocarbon deposits and minerals before being extracted, as well as any other organic or inorganic substance of the subsoil;

5°.The vacant lands and lands that are not private property;

6°.Those which, having been of particular ownership, become vacant, and those acquired by the State or the municipalities by any legal title;

7°.The excesses of rural or urban properties, in accordance with the law; and

8°.The monuments and archaeological relics.

Assets of private property are those of individual or juridical persons who have legal title.

Property for common use is inalienable and imprescriptible. All inhabitants may make use thereof, with the restrictions established by law, but for special uses a concession granted with the requirements established by the respective laws is required.

The property constituting the patrimony of the State, of the municipalities and of the decentralized State entities is subject to special laws and, subsidiarily, to the provisions of this Code.

The transfer of the property of the public domain of common use to the patrimony of the State or of the municipalities shall be made by completing the formalities indicated by the respective laws and regulations.