Standard Oil V. Jaramillo

STANDARD OIL CO. vs. JARAMILLO Facts: On November 27, 1922, Gervasia de la Rosa, Vda. de Vera, was the lessee of a parcel of land situated in the City of Manila and owner of the house of strong materials built thereon, upon which date she executed a document in the form of a chattel mortgage to convey to the Standard Oil. Co. by way of mortgage both the leasehold interest in said lot and the building to which it stands After said document had been duly acknowledged and delivered, it was then presented to Joaquin Jaramillo, Register of Deeds of the City of Manila, for the purpose of having the same recorded. Upon examination of the instrument, the Jaramillo was of the opinion that it was not chattel mortgage, for the reason that the interest therein mortgaged did not appear to be personal property, within the meaning of the Chattel Mortgage Law, and registration was refused on this ground only. Issue: Whether or not the deed may be registered in the chattel mortgage registry? Held: Yes it may be registered. The duties of a register of deeds in respect to the registration of chattel mortgages are purely of a ministerial character, and he is clothed with no judicial or quasi-judicial power to determine the nature of the property, whether real or personal, which is the subject of the mortgage. Generally speaking, he should accept the qualification of the property adapted by the person who presents the instrument for registration and should place the instrument on record, upon payment of the proper fee, leaving the effects of registration to be determined by the court if such question should arise for legal determination. The efficacy of the act of recording a chattel mortgage consists in the fact that registration operates as constructive notice of the existence of the contract, and the legal effects of the instrument must be discovered in the document itself, in relation with the fact of notice. Registration adds nothing to the instrument, considered as a source of title, and affects nobody's rights except as a species of constructive notice.