18 SCRA 973
FACTS:
Spouses Jose Santa Ana, Jr. and Lourdes Sto. Domingo sold a land in Bulacan to respondent Rosa Hernandez for P11,000. The boundaries of the land were stated in the deed of sale and its approximate land area.
After the sale (there were two other previous sales to different vendees of other portions of the land), the petitioners-spouses caused the preparation of a subdivision plan. Rosa Hernandez, however, unlike the previous vendees, did not conform to the plan and refused to execute an agreement of subdivision and partition for registration and refused to vacate the areas that she had occupied. Instead, she caused the preparation of a different subdivision plan, which was approved by the Director of Lands.
Petitioners-spouses filed suit against respondent Rosa Hernandez in the Court of First Instance of Bulacan, claiming that said defendant was occupying an excess of 17,000 square meters in area of what she had bought from them. Defendant Rosa Hernandez, on the other hand, claimed that the alleged excess, was part of the areas that she bought.
ISSUE:
Whether or not the excess area occupied by Hernandez is part of the land sold.
RULING:
The sale involves a definite and identified tract, a corpus certum, that obligated the vendors to deliver to the buyer all the land within the boundaries, irrespective of whether its real area should be greater or smaller than what is recited in the deed.
To hold the buyer to no more than the area recited on the deed, it must be made clear therein that the sale was made by unit of measure at a definite price for each unit. The sale in this case only involves the definite boundaries but only approximate land areas. As such, Art 1542 concerning the sale for lump sum must be considered.
*Case digest by Sherl Dianne S. Estoque, JD 3-, Andres Bonifacio Law School, SY 2019-2020