Text of the provision
Art. 508. The private ownership of the beds of rain waters does not give a right to make works or constructions which may change their course to the damage of third persons, or whose destruction, by the force of floods, may cause such damage.
(413)
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
Owning the bed of a rain-water channel does not allow the owner to build works that change the water’s course to the damage of third persons, or works whose collapse in a flood would cause such damage.
The restriction targets two related risks: constructions that redirect the water’s natural course in a way that damages neighboring property, and constructions that, while not redirecting the water outright, are vulnerable enough that flooding could destroy them and cause the same kind of damage when they give way. Ownership of the streambed itself is not in question — the article assumes the owner may possess and use the bed — but that ownership does not extend to a right to alter how the water behaves once it affects land beyond the owner’s own property.
Questions about this provision
Related provisions
- Article 507 — Spring Or Brook On Private Land.
- Article 509 — No Entry To Search For Waters.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.