Final judgment: the path that crosses Son Lluís de Porreres is public

PorreresThe Court of First Instance number 4 of Manacor has dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Cirera Puig brothers against the Porreres City Council. The ruling, which is now final, confirms the public nature of two sections of the Son Lluís path and supports their continued inclusion in the municipal Path Catalogue.

The Cirera Puig brothers had exercised a declaratory action of ownership to claim the property of sections 2 and 3 of the path, included in file number 23 of the catalogue. The court, however, has noted contradictions and lack of clarity in the delimitation of the plots provided by the plaintiffs. For its part, the City Council has presented historical documentation regarding the use of the path as a communication route between Porreres, Llucmajor, and Campos.

Among the evidence examined is an expert report prepared by the researcher and technician Antoni Manuel Gorrias i Duran. The study argues that the path retains its status as a public good even if it has been closed or has ceased to be used for a time. Gorrias recalls that public paths are inalienable, unseizable, and imprescriptible, and maintains that the closure of a section by the owners of the neighboring estates cannot confer any property right upon them.

The report reviews the protection of public paths in historical legislation, from the Novísima Recopilación of 1805 and the Royal Decree of 1849 to subsequent local regime regulations. Gorrias also points out that the owners of Son Lluís have not provided any valid title or any declassification file that proves that the disputed sections became private.

Centuries of municipal investments

Municipal archives preserve minutes, expense accounts, and personal service files that document conservation and improvement works on the Son Lluís road. Recorded therein are jobs and wages paid by residents and owners of Porreres in the years 1890, 1955, between 1960 and 1964, and in 1978.

Both the 1879 Rustic Cadastre and the 1951 cadastral maps show, according to the expert report, that estates in the area such as Son Lluís, Son Lluissó, and el Tast border the road, which appears there as a geographical unit distinct from the private properties.

With the dismissal of the lawsuit, the two sections of the Son Lluís road subject to the litigation maintain their public character and their inclusion in the Porreres Road Catalog.