If floodwaters carry an uprooted tree onto someone else's land, who owns the tree?

A deadline and a price

Article 460 says that trees uprooted and carried away by the current of the waters belong to the owner of the land upon which they may be cast, if the owners do not claim them within six months. The rule is a default that runs against the original owner: he loses the tree by doing nothing. The second sentence sets the terms of getting it back — if such owners claim them, they shall pay the expenses incurred in gathering them or putting them in a safe place. Recovery is therefore never free, and the longer the tree sits, the more has usually been spent on it.

The article is narrower than it sounds

It covers trees uprooted and carried away by the current of the waters, which is a particular kind of event. A tree blown down in a typhoon that falls across the boundary was not carried by water and is not governed by this rule. Neither is a tree still rooted on your side whose branches or trunk lean over the fence, which raises questions about branches and encroachment rather than about ownership. What this provision addresses is a tree that left your land entirely, travelled on the water, and came to rest somewhere else.

Why the finder is allowed to spend and charge

A large tree lying where the flood dropped it is a nuisance and often a hazard, and the owner of that land cannot be expected to farm around it for half a year. The expense provision is what makes it reasonable for him to haul it clear and stack it somewhere it will not rot, without being accused of taking it. It also disciplines the claimant: the person who wants his timber back pays the cost of its rescue rather than collecting the benefit of another man's labour. Where the tree is valuable hardwood, that accounting is worth doing properly on both sides.

Making a claim that will hold

Claim in writing, dated, delivered in a way you can prove, and do it early rather than near the end of the six months. Identify the tree so it cannot be confused with another — species, girth, height, any cut marks, brands or fence wire grown into the trunk — and photograph it where it lies. Ask the other owner for a statement of what he has spent, so the amount is settled before the tree is moved again. Bear in mind too that cutting up or hauling large timber can require clearance under forestry rules, so do not assume a felled tree may simply be trucked away.

Cases citing this provision

These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.

• The Heirs of Alfredo Cullado, namely: Lolita Cullado, et al. vs. Dominic V. Gutierrez, G.R. No. 212938, July 30, 2019 — read the decision on LawPhil →

Related provisions

• Civil Code, Article 460 — Uprooted Trees