Carbonell v. Registrar of Property

18 P.R. 745
Supreme Court of Puerto Rico·Decided June 29, 1912·No. No. 816·Published

Opinion

Mr. Justice Aldrey

delivered the opinion of the court.

The estate “Bestauración,” composed of 700 cuerdas, situate in Cabo Bojo, and recorded in the Begistry of Property of San Grermán in favor of Grumersinda Casabó Miret, was partitioned among her seven heirs, who, to satisfy debts of the ancestor, segregated therefrom two parcels which they adjudicated for that purpose to the heir, Carlos Casabó Miret. One parcel was composed of 77 cuerdas and the other of 216, the latter being composed of two portions, one of 200 cuerdas and another of 16. There remained, therefore, for partition [747]*747among the seven heirs 407 cuerdas, which were adjudicated in common.

Notwithstanding that the deed of partition shows this clearly the then Registrar of Property of San Germán, Mr. Beamnd, at the time of recording said deed in the second entry relative to said lands, stated that, for the satisfaction of liabilities, 309 cuerdas thereof were adjudicated to Carlos Casabó Miret, the same being divided into three portions of 216, 16, and 77 cuerdas, respectively, there having been adjudicated in common to the seven heirs the 391 remaining cuerdas.

Later, of the two parcels adjudicated expressly to Carlos Casabó Miret in payment of debts the one composed of 77 cuerdas became the property of Virgilio Zapata, and of the parcel of 216 cuerdas Ramón Garratazn acquired 200 and Juan José Irizarry Toro acquired 16. They were all recorded as separate estates.

The undivided joint interest of the seven heirs in the 407 cuerdas which remained according to the deed of partition, although but 391 cuerdas were recorded in their favor by the registrar, Mr. Beamud, by successive purchases became the property of Celedonio Carbonell, who, on April 29, 1910, applied to the present Registrar of Property of San Germán for the correction of the aforesaid second entry on the ground that the same contained an immaterial error and for the insertion therein of the true amount of 407 cuerdas adjudicated to the heirs. The said registrar refused to make this correction.

In view of this refusal Celedonio Carbonell instituted ex parte proceedings in the District Court of Mayagliez, stating the foregoing facts and requesting that the Registrar of Property of San Germán be directed to correct the error existing in the aforesaid entry, whether it be an immaterial error or an error of judgment. By decision of October, 21, 1910, this petition was denied by the court on the ground [748]*748that the registrar had opposed it and that there might he other parties interested in the proceedings.

These are the grounds upon which Celedonio Carbonell brought action in the District Court of Mayagüez on May 31, 1911, against the Registrar of Property of San German. Rafael B. Sama answered the complaint by a general denial, and stated, moreover, that a declaratory action does not lie against decisions of registrars and that he did not refuse to correct the record on the ground- that the interpretation thereof did not agree with the title', but because it was not shown that the different parties interested in the record had consented to such correction.

After trial the aforesaid court rendered judgment on December 11, 1911, dismissing the complaint with costs against the plaintiff on the ground that the same did not state facts sufficient. to constitute a cause of action. From this judgment the plaintiff, Celedonio Carbonell, has taken the present appeal.

In view of these facts the lower court arrived at the conclusion that the error was evident, the difference consisting of the 16 cuerdas erroneously recorded as segregated separately and independently from the estate' of 216 cuerdas; that besides the plaintiff there are other parties interested in the record the correction of which is sought; that the proper proceeding for the correction thereof is not a declaratory action, and that the complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. These are also the questions that the appellant deals with in his brief.

With respect to the first point, the appellant maintains that the opinion of the lower court that the error consists in having recorded erroneously 16 cuerdas independently of the 216 is an error, because said difference is not recorded in favor of any one, nor has a separate estate been formed -therewith. Notwithstanding that the segregation of 16 cuerdas was not recorded as a separate estate, as should have been ..done by the registrar, and that neither were the other segre-[749]*749gations so recorded until acquired by different persons, it is true that in the record of the deed of partition it was stated that three parcels of 77, 216, and 16 cuerdas, making a total of 309, and not two, were segregated for Carlos Casabó Miret, when in reality 293 cuerdas only were segregated. This error caused that of recording a remainder of 391 cuerdas out of the 700 in favor of the heirs, when, as stated in the partition, there were 407. Although a separate record of the segregations was not made, the entry of said three parcels was so made in the record.

From the manner in which said entry has been made the correction thereof will affect not only the interest of the heirs in the 407 cuerdas, but that this number of cuerdas may result it is also necessary that the erroneous segregation of 16 cuerdas, which still figures in favor of Carlos Casabó Miret, be canceled. The fact that a separate record of this segregation of 16 cuerdas was not made does not annul the record thereof made in the same entry in favor of Casabó Miret, and, therefore, he must appear as a party interested in the correction of the error.

- Of course the error committed in this case by the registrar,. Mr. Beamud, was an error of judgment and not a material error. The latter exists when some words are unintentionally written for others, when the statement of some detail is omitted not causing nullity, or when mistakes are made as to surname's or amounts in transcribing them from the documents without thereby changing the general sense of the record; but when in expressing in the entry matters contained in the deed their sense is altered or marred, this error not necessarily producing nullity, then the error is one of judgment. The error in this case consisted in segregating for Carlos Casabó Miret oh© parcel more than had been adjudicated to him, -and therefore it was not a material error merely. (Arts. 259 and 260 of the Mortgage Law.)

This being established, let us see if in instituting this [750]*750action Celedonio Carbonell lias followed the procedure prescribed by law to obtain the correction of the existing error.

Before proceeding farther on this particular we must state that in this case the error does not appear clearly from the record itself because from the mere perusal of the entry the error is not noted. It is necessary to compare the entry with the title from which it originated in order to note the error. Such being the case, and in dealing with errors of this nature, the Mortgage Law says:

“Art. 256.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Carbonell v. Registrar of Property, 18 P.R. 745 (prsupreme 1912).

18 P.R. 745 (Carbonell v. Registrar of Property) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.