Case ID: pr_4/html/0359-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Mr. Chief Justice Quiñones,", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Municipality of San Juan v. The Registrar of Property.
    Appeal from a Decision of the Registrar of Property of San Jnan.
    No. 11.
    Decided November 16, 1903.
    Dominion Title. — The omission to state with clearness in the record of a house, the ownership of the lot upon which it is constructed, cannot prejudice the owner thereof whose right is established by a certificate issued in the manner prescribed by article 36 of the Regulations for the Execution of the Mortgage Law.
    STATEMENT OP THE CASE.
    The hearing has been had in this appeal taken by the Municipality of San Juan from the refusal of the Registrar of Property thereof, to admit to record a lot in favor of said Municipality.
    José de Jesús Pesquera filed with the Registrar of Property of this city a certificate issued by the Mayor thereof, Manuel Egozeue y Cintrón, on April 8, 1902, wherein it was stated that according to the records on file in the City Archives, the Municipality of San Juan had the absolute ownership of lot N? 19, Sol Street, this city, consisting of 222.35 square meters, in conformity with a declaration of the Insular Government, dated May 6, 1853, approved and ratified by said Government on September 12 of the same year; that on the lot to which the certificate referred there stood a house bearing the same number that appeared on the records of the Registry as being now the property of Ramón de Torres y Borges, Rafael Cabrera y Torres, Juana Plortensia, Juan Ramón and Manuel Torres y Variderlinden, in volume 28 of this city, reverse of folio 6, property 1149, record fifth, by award to them upon the death of Juan Ramón de Torres y Ramos, the late husband of Josefa Borges» who had paid the rent on said lot up to December 31, 1893, a mortgage upon said house having been constituted to secure the payment of the rent by Bernarda Baez and Juan Casimiro de León, former owners of said .property, according to a deed executed on July 2, 1851, before Notary Mauricio Guerra, which was entered in the old Registry and transferred to the new, under folio 61, (reverse), volume 28 of this Capital, as property 1149, record sixth; and as the lot described should be recorded in the name of the Municipality of San Juan, in compliance with the provision of article 36 of the Regulations for the execution of the Mortgage Law, he issued the said certificate in duplicate to the Registrar of Property of this Capital requesting him to return a copy in order that it might have its effect in the proper record. And the admission of aforesaid lot to record having been applied for by José de Jesús Pesquera, the person presenting the certificate referred to, the same was refused by the Registrar for the reasons set forth in the memorandum placed at the bottom of said document, which literally reads as follows:
    “The admission to record of the lot referred to in the above document is refused in conformity with the provisions of article 20 of the Mortgage Law, because house No. 19, Sol Street, this city, is recorded in favor of Ramón Antonio de Torres y Borges, Rafael Cabrera Torres, Juana Hortensia, Juan Ramón and Manuel de Torres y Variderlinden, and in the entries referring to said property no distinction is made between the ownership of the ground and that of the building constructed thereon, for which reason it is to be presumed that the lot belongs to the owners of the house, as otherwise it would have been clearly stated in the Registry, as is expressly required by article 64 of the Regulations for the execution of aforesaid law. Cautionary notice has been entered on page 21, volume 52 of this city, property No. 1149 duplicate, entry A., which shall have legal effect during 120 days from date hereof. San Juan,' Porto Rico, October 2, 1903. — José Benedicto, Registrar.”
    Notice of said refusal having been served upon the person who presented the aforesaid certificate, he requested that said document be sent up to this Supreme Court for decision, which was done by the Registrar, with the proper communication.
   Mr. Chief Justice Quiñones,

after making the above statement of facts, rendered the following opinion of the court:

The omission in the record oí house N?19, Sol Street, this city, made in favor of the estate of Juan Ramón de Torres y Ramos, of not stating therein with the clearness required by article 64 of the Regulations for the execution of the Mortgage Law, who was the owner of the lot and of the house built thereon, cannot prejudice the interests of the Municipality of San Juan, which establishes its ownership of the lot in question by the presentation of the certificate issued by the Mayor of this city, that is to say, in the manner prescribed by article 36 of the Regulations for the execution of the said Mortgage Law; and, therefore, inasmuch as the lot is not “expressly” recorded in favor of any particular person, the case does not come under the prohibition contained in article 20 of the Mortgage Law, cited by the Registrar in his decision.

In view of the legal provisions cited herein, the decision of the Registrar of Property entered at the end of the certificate referred to in the present appeal, is hereby reversed, and we adjudge that the lot described in aforesaid document be recorded in favor of the Municipal Corporation of this city. The aforesaid certificate is ordered to be returned to the Registrar of Property, with a copy of this decision, for compliance therewith.

Justices Hernández, Sulzbacher and MacLeary, concurred.

Mr. Justice Pigueras did not sit at the hearing of this case.