Text of the provision
Art. 479. The plaintiff must return to the defendant all benefits he may have received from the latter, or reimburse him for expenses that may have redounded to the plaintiff's benefit.
Civil Code of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 386, approved June 18, 1949, effective August 30, 1950. Reproduced in full; verified verbatim against the LawPhil and ChanRobles official-text renderings.
What this article means
A plaintiff who succeeds in quieting title must return to the defendant any benefits received from them, or reimburse expenses that benefited the plaintiff. Equity requires the winning party not to be unjustly enriched.
The obligation to return benefits and the obligation to reimburse expenses address two different situations, not the same one. Returning benefits applies where the plaintiff actually received something from the defendant — for example, use of the property or payments made — while reimbursement applies where the defendant’s expenses ended up benefiting the plaintiff, such as improvements or taxes paid on the property while it was in the defendant’s possession. Because quieting title determines who holds the better right, not who behaved improperly, a favorable outcome does not erase whatever financial exchange already occurred between the parties.
Questions about this provision
Related provisions
- Article 478 — Quieting After Extinguished Obligation.
- Article 480 — General Law on Quieting of Title.
Cases citing this article
- Dept. of Educ. etc vs. Celso Onate, G.R. No. 161758, June 8, 2007 — read the decision on LawPhil →
Compiled automatically from Supreme Court decisions published on LawPhil that expressly cite this article, most frequently cited first. A listing means the decision cites the provision — it is not a statement that the case is the leading authority, and it does not show whether a ruling has since been modified or abandoned. Always read the decision itself.