Longinos Javier v. Segundo Javier

Summary

This 1906 Supreme Court case involved a property dispute between family members over ownership of land and a house in Malate, Manila. Longinos Javier, as administrator of his father Manuel Javier's estate, sought to recover possession of the family land from his brother Segundo Javier and sister-in-law Isabel Hernandez, who had built a house on the property. The Court affirmed that while the land belonged to the estate, the defendants owned the house they constructed. However, since the defendants were not possessors in good faith (knowing the land belonged to the estate), they were not entitled to reimbursement for construction costs and must remove the house within a reasonable time. The case established the administrator's right to recover estate property and clarified the distinction between land and building ownership in property disputes.