Smith v. Registrar of Property
Smith v. Registrar of Property
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Under a public instrument dated April 14, 1910, Pedro Jnan Rosaly, as attorney in fact of the owners of nine-twentieths of the plantation “Carmen,” situated in Salinas, extended for 20 years a lease granted by all the coparticipants of said property, but restricting the extension to the shares or portions belonging in common ownership to the participants represented by him.
Upon presentation of said deed for admission to record to the registrar of Guayama, he refused to do so on the ground, as we understand his decision, that said shares are recorded, together with others held in common ownership, from which decision Jeremiah Smith, Jr. has appealed.
The extension of a lease is, of course, nothing else than a new lease, and as such we will consider the deed, subject-matter of this appeal.
According to the terms of the instrument presented to the registrar, although it is said in its- second statement of
Judging by the way the contract reads, it seems that what the copartieipants have done is to grant a lease of their undivided shares and not a lease of a part or the whole of the plantation, it being maintained by appellant that he has a right to do so independently of the other coparticipants, and that the contract is recordable.
It is true that, according to section 354 of the Civil Code, every owner has a right to enjoy and dispose of his property, with such restrictions as are established by law.
That same body of laws prescribes a set of rules for the management of property belonging in common ownership to several persons, according to which rules the resolution of a majority of the participants, representing the greater part of the estate, shall be binding on all, as to the management and fuller enjoyment of the property.
Now, then, since in a contract of lease the thing given is the right to enjoy or use a particular property for a specific price and for a definite period, the giving of such right is tantamount to an administrative act which should be governed by the aforesaid rules relating to common ownership; hence, the contract in question may be executed only by a majority of the participants, as to their proportion in the estate, provided some of the conditions established in article 2, subdivision 5, of the Mortgage Law do not concur in said contract, in which case the consent of all the participants shall be required, because such contract would then constitute a lien on the premises in favor of the lessee.
Moreover, the said contract is not recordable because no-specific property is leased, and article 2, subdivision 5, of the Mortgage Law refers to the lease of real property, not to the lease of undivided interests.
For the reasons above given the decision of the registrar should be sustained.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.