Heirs of Franceschi v. Registrar of Property of Ponce

39 P.R. 665
Supreme Court of Puerto Rico·Decided June 18, 1929·No. No. 768·Published

Opinion

Mr. Justice Texidor

delivered the opinion of the court.

It results from the record in this appeal that Pedro Pérez Santiago mortgaged to the Federal Land. Bank of Baltimore five rural properties belonging to him and later by a deed executed on November 16, 1928, created a second mortgage on the same properties in favor of the bearer or bearers of five notes or obligations signed by Pérez Santiago. This mortgage was recorded' in the registry of property of Ponce.

Suit was brought in the District Court of Ponce by the heirs of Francisco M. Franceschi against Pedro Pérez Santiago to recover on the notes. In that suit the plaintiffs moved to secure the effectiveness of the judgment and the marshal attached different properties, among them the five mortgage notes referred to, the writ having been issued as notice to [666]*666the defendant. An order was presented in the registry for recording the attachment and it was noted by the registrar. As regards the mortgage to secure the notes payable to hearer he explained that the annotation was-made without prejudice to third persons.

The present appeal has been taken from that decision for a modification of the annotation and reversal as regards its having been made without prejudice to third persons with respect to the notes.

Both parties have presented briefs.

The appellants contend that the inclusion in the annotation of the words “without prejudice to third persons” renders it equivalent to a denial of record; that on the date when the annotation was made there were no third persons because it is presumed that the notes are in the possession of the debtor who executed the mortgage and signed the notes, and that the registrar did not apply articles 142 and 143 of the Mortgage Law by virtue of which for the existence of a third holder of the notes their conveyance and delivery must appear recorded in the registry by means of a marginal note.

The registrar maintains that this is not a proper case for an administrative appeal because it does not refer to qualification, denial, or assignment of curable defect; that in the present case there has been no notification of the record because the interested party wrote and signed the notification without the intervention of the registrar; that on the same day when the second mortgage deed was executed a copy of it and the five notes were presented in the registry of property for record and the notes were recorded in favor of their holders ; that on the 6th of last April and by means of a deed executed on the 5th of the same month before notary Zapater it was stated that Mario Mercado was the holder of notes Nos. 2, 3 and 4, and Heraclio Cintron of notes Nos. 1 and 5; that that deed was noted in the registry; that the writ of attachment in the present case was issued on March 27, 1929, and was executed by the marshal and presented in the registry [667]*667on the same day, record being made of the notes -without prejudice to third persons; that on May 8, 1929, the attorney for the plaintiffs withdrew the writ of attachment and issued a notification -without the assent or signature of the registrar. He discusses the propriety of the appeal, citing in opposition thereto the jurisprudence of Porto Rico and of Spain, and argues the grounds of the appeal.

The theory of the appellants, if we understand it well, is that a mortgage to secure obligations transferable by indorsement and obligations payable to bearer is not a real mortgage until the moment when the secured obligations are transferred by indorsement or by delivery and then only has the loan been consummated; that so considered, that mortgage has the same condition as one which secures a future obligation, or subject to a suspensive condition, and comes within the purview of articles 142 and 143 of the Mortgage Law which provide that in such cases it shall be effective against third persons from its record if the obligation be contracted or the condition fulfilled, and in these cases.the circumstance must be recorded by means of a marginal note.

The appellants cite Aragonés, Morell and Galindo and Escosura. But we must say that in some of those citations they have failed to transcribe a very important matter which we shall include in this opinion.

We may agree with the doctrine of Aragonés that a mortgage to secure current accounts may be one which refers tu future obligations, inasmuch as a current account, while, it is open, is nothing more than the germ of an obligation which -will be determined and fixed in a more or less remote future. But we do not agree that mortgages which secure obligations; transferable by indorsement, or payable to bearer, have that same character; that in these the obligation exists from a beginning, the amount is determined and only the special name of the creditor is variable, but the generic name of such creditor, indorser or bearer is fixed. The mortgage is born at the time of the execution of the deed and it is not nece[668]*668ssary to wait for the name of the creditor to he specified or singularized, since generically it is determined.

The same answer may he given to the theory of Galindo and Escosura as far as it may be considered applicable to this class of mortgages.

As to Morell, we should say that there has been failure to include in the quotation a paragraph reading as follows:

“Does this mean, as likewise maintained by some writers, that during the interval from the record of the mortgage until the securities are put in circulation and acquired by third persons, there exists a.( real mortgage in favor of the owner, since he is alive and there are no other creditors? Not at all. The law does not require a note to show the circulation, because it would not be possible, but it would be more essential to show the existence of third holders or purchasers of all the obligations issued, and of course it considers as being effective the recorded mortgage when the facts in question take place. It excuses a requisite, but nothing else, in view of the nature of the secured obligation, just as it overlooks the acceptance, and any deed or record in the transfer of titles. In our statutes the debtor and the creditor can not be one and the same person and the owner of a property can not mortgage it in his favor. The rights and obligations being merged in a single entity, the mortgage may exist in the record, but nobody can make it effective until, through delivery of a, few, many or all of the titles, there are third persons and coexisting with them demandable credits and a creditor. While the titles in question continue in possession of the aspirant to be his creditor, as he owesi nothing, nothing can be required of him or by him, and the mortgage can not benefit anybody.” 4 Morell, Mortgage Legislation, 260.

We copy this paragraph because of its reference in the first part to denial of the existence of the mortgage in favor of the owner and its affirmance of the fact that the law does not require any marginal note showing the circulation, on which points we agree. There seems to be some contradiction in the other parts, but we think that the author had in mind obligations issued by some industrial companies, in which case it might happen that the company reserved the obligations in order to place them on the market later, and there is perhaps some confusion between the existence of the [669]*669mortgage and its exigibility. The mortgage lien became effective when the mortgage was created and recorded and.

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Heirs of Franceschi v. Registrar of Property of Ponce, 39 P.R. 665 (prsupreme 1929).

39 P.R. 665 (Heirs of Franceschi v. Registrar of Property of Ponce) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.