Text of the provision
Art. 646. For legal purposes, the easement of aqueduct shall be considered as continuous and apparent, even though the flow of the water may not be continuous, or its use depends upon the needs of the dominant estate, or upon a schedule of alternate days or hours.
(561)
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
For legal purposes, the easement of aqueduct is considered continuous and apparent, even though the flow of water may not be continuous, or its use depends on the needs of the dominant estate or on a schedule.
Ordinarily, an easement's continuity turns on whether its use requires a current human act each time, and its apparent character on whether visible signs reveal its existence. The aqueduct easement would seem to fail the first test whenever the water does not flow constantly, or flows only according to the dominant estate's needs or a fixed schedule of days or hours. This article forecloses that argument by legal fiat: for all legal purposes, an aqueduct easement is treated as continuous and apparent regardless of how intermittent or scheduled its actual water flow may be.
Questions about this provision
Related provisions
- Article 645 — The Servient Owner May Still Build.
- Article 647 — Stop Locks and Sluice Gates.
Cases citing this article
- National Power Corporation vs. Heirs of Macabangkit Sangkay, namely: Cebu, Batowa-an, et al., all surnamed Macabangkit, G.R. No. 165828, August 24, 2011 — 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.