Land Rights, Land Laws and Land Usurpation: The Spanish Sea (1565-1898)
![handle is hein.journals/philplj63 and id is 85 raw text is: LAND RIGHTS, LAND LAWS AND
LAND USURPATION:
THE SPANISH ERA (1565-1898)*
Owen J. Lynch, Jr.
The Legal Landscape
The primary innovation introduced by the Spaniards concerning legal
rights to natural resources was the concept that land could be exclusively
owned by individuals. In other words, the outstanding novelty was not that
the Crown claimed to own all the land.1 Rather, it was the gradual adoption
of the European principle of individual ownership. '
*This article comprises the second in a four-part series being published in the PLJ and
excerpted from the author's doctoral dissertation at Yale Law School. The dissertation is titled
Invisible Peoples: A History of Philippine Land Law. The author would like to thank Jaime
Renato B. Gatmavtan, Theodore 0. Te and Brenda K. 'elasco for their help in preparing this
article for publication.
'The prevailing perspective of the Philippine Government and legal profession, which is referred
to as the Regalian Doctrine, implicitly holds that at some still unspecified moment the sovereignty
and property rights of the indigenes in the politically undefined and unexplored archipelago were
abruptly and subsequently owned by the Spanish Crown. See e.g. Valenton v. Murciano, 3 Phil.
537, 543 (1904); Lee Hong Hok v. David, 48 SCRA 372, 377 (1972). The doctrine relies on a
narrow interpretation of LAWS OF THE INDIES (hereinafter referred to as LI), BOOK 4,
TITLE 12, LAW 4. It completely ignores contrary laws within the same title and elsewhere in
the Laws of the Indies, as well as an array of historical evidence. For additional discussion see the
next, i.e., the third part of this four part series.
A less sweeping perspective is presented by J. LARKIN, THE PAMPANGANS: COLONIAL
SOCIETY IN A PHILIPPINE PROVINCE 71 (1972), where he cited a 1784 Decree by Governor
Basco y Vargas [a copy of which can be found in 52 E. BLAIR & J. ROBERTSON, THE PHILIP-
PINE ISLANDS 291-307 (1973); hereinafter referred to as B&R] to support the assertion that
Until the late nineteenth century, all land technically belonged to the government with the
exception of property awarded to the early datus and their heirs or land sold in usufruct by the
government to private parties.
Both perspectives are incorrect. No European government, in fact, asserted that the
Indians had no claim at all to any of their lands [barring a grant from the colonial sovereign].
Rather they questioned just what sort of title and political jurisdiction native rulers possessed
under national and natural law. R. BERKHOFER, JR., THE WHITE MAN'S INDIAN:
IMAGES OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN FROM COLUMBUS TO THE PRESENT 121 (1979).
In addition, cognizable customary rights were neither awarded nor limited to those established at
the time of the initial Spanish occupation. In Basco's words, the inhabitants of the islands ought
to have understood that the lands which they obtained are all royal or communal, with the
exception of those which they possess from inheritance, or through legitimate purchase from the
native chiefs who were cultivating them at the time when the Catholic faith was established in
Filipinas, and when they rendered fidelity, obedience, and vassalage to the august Spanish
monarchs. 52 B&R 295-296. [Emphasis supplied.]
2j. PHELAN, THE HISPANIZATION OF THE PHILIPPINES, SPANISH AIMS AND
FILIPINO RESPONSES 117,156 (1959). N. CUSHNER, LANDED ESTATES IN THE PHILIP-](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/philplj63&div=7&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Land Rights, Land Laws and Land Usurpation: The Spanish Sea (1565-1898)
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