Text of the provision
Art. 519. Mining claims and rights and other matters concerning minerals and mineral lands are governed by special laws.
(427a)
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
Mining claims and rights, and other questions about minerals and mineral lands, are governed by special laws rather than by this Code.
By deferring entirely to "special laws," this article marks mining as a field the Civil Code does not attempt to regulate, unlike the ownership rules it lays down for most other property. Questions such as who may hold a mining claim, how such claims are perfected, and what rights attach to mineral lands are therefore answered by dedicated mining legislation rather than by the general property provisions found elsewhere in this Book — a division that keeps the Code from duplicating rules better suited to a specialized statutory framework.
Questions about this provision
- Does the Civil Code cover my rights to a mining claim, or is that governed by a completely different law?
- What law applies to a water rights or irrigation dispute that the Civil Code's chapter on waters does not directly cover?
- Who governs mining claims and mineral rights in the Philippines — the Civil Code or a special law?
Related provisions
- Article 518 — Suppletory Law On Waters.
- Article 520 — Ownership Of Registered Marks.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.