Pujals v. Registrar of Property
Pujals v. Registrar of Property
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The first registry of a certain rural property situated in the ward of Bio of the Municipal District of Naguabo, made by the Registrar of Property of ITumacao on December 21, 1898, was in the admission to record of possessory title proceedings wherein Andrea Núñez, widow of Pujals, had proved before the Municipal Court of Naguabo her possession of the said property which she had acquired by purchase more than 14 years previously. The record of possession was converted into a record of ownership later.
Subsequently, or on August 28, 1913, Andrea Núñez, then a widow, sold the said property to Maria Pujals Núñez, and the deed of sale having been presented in the registry of property for record, accompanied by a certificate showing that José Pujals, the husband of Andrea Núñez, died on September 1, 1884, the registrar refused to admit the same to record for the reasons set forth in the following decision from which the present appeal was taken:
“The admission to record of this document, which has been presented anew, is refused because it cannot be determined whether the property sold is the exclusive property of the vendor; for although it appears from the registry that she recorded it in her name in 1898, when' she was a widow, it appears also that she acquired it for a valuable consideration more than fourteen years prior to the year 1898, or before 1884, in which year her husband, José Pujals, died, as is shown by the accompanying death certificate. In lieu thereof a cautionary notice is entered for the 120 days provided for by law, in volume 9 of Naguabo, folio 104, property No. 462, record A. Humacao, December 5, 1913. The Registrar, Miguel Planellas.”
As the registrar must base his decision on what is shown in the documents presented to him and in 'the records of the registry, when the certificate of the death of the husband of ’ the person in whose name the property sold is recorded was presented with the deed of sale, he was obliged to take into consideration the facts stated therein.
Now, as it appears from the document accompanying the deed that the husband of Andrea Núñez died on September 1, 1884, or 14 years before the recording of the possessory title, this appears to show that she was still married when she acquired the property, for which reason the- respondent registrar was right in assigning as a reason for his refusal to admit the deed of sale to record that it could not be deter - mined whether the property belonged exclusively to the vendor.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.