1 Modes of Acquisition of Property

The four syllabus modes (Unit 2's theory applied):1. Possession (including adverse possession): acquisition by taking or delivery — and, through the adverse route, possession maintained openly, continuously, exclusively and hostilely for the limitation period, maturing into prescriptive title (Unit 2's doctrine);2. Prescription: the acquisition (or extinction) of rights by lapse of time — acquisitive prescription (title by long adverse possession: easements by long use, title by limitation's bar on the owner's suit) and extinctive prescription (the owner's right of action extinguished by the Limitation Act's periods); prescription as the law's amnesty for long-settled facts;3. Agreement: acquisition by transaction — sale, exchange, gift — perfected for immovables by deed and registration (the registered rajinama); for movables by delivery and (where formalities required) documents; the agreement itself generating obligations (enforceable under the Contract Act, 2056's general law) with the property right passing on completion of the statutory form (Unit 11's doctrine);4. Inheritance: acquisition by devolution on death — succession under the Civil Code 2074's scheme (Unit 7) — the acquisition automatic by operation of law from the moment of death (successio mortis causa), registration serving as evidence, not root, of the heir's title.