PR USA Titling Subject To Our Rights Since 1750

There are other serious defects in our land system. The procedure for the adjudication of titles to real estate is most unsatisfactory. Two kinds of titles are recognized under the present system; one is called possessory title and tl1e other dominion title. A possessory title is adjudicated to any person who comes before a court of competent jurisdiction and shows that he is a squatter upon the land. Possessory title is, in fact, no title at all; it simply amounts to a record notice that a person is in possession claiming a right to the land. The best title which can be obtained under the laws of Porto Rico is that called dominion, which is nothing more than a squatter title matured by a certain number. of years of actual occupancy of the land with the payment of taxes. Anyone occupying land under these conditions may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction and obtain a decree adjudicating dominion title in the land to him; but the decree vesting the title is not final and conclusive. The title held under it may be attacked collaterally. The decree does not vest title against the government, because the latter is not a party to the proceedings. Thus, a citizen who acquires a dominion title in our courts, the best title which our present laws can afford him, must remain in the uncertainty that comes from the knowledge that his title may be attacked at any time. This should not be, for the effect is most demoralizing on the business interests of the community, which looks to the agricultural values of the island for its chief collateral in commercial transactions.
                                                                                                Frank Fenille, PR Attorney General, 1907