In all cases in which the law authorizes the acquisition for public purposes, of a property or of any right or easement therein, or when a property, or any right or easement therein, has been declared of public utility, where such declaration is necessary, or without such declaration, if it is not necessary, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or the officer, person, agent, authority, instrumentality, or any other entity or body authorized by law, may condemn same through the proper eminent domain proceedings instituted in the San Juan part of the Court of First Instance, in the regular manner provided by law for the commencing of civil actions. Said proceedings shall be in rem, and the plaintiff may include in the same complaint, if deemed advisable, one or more properties, whether or not belonging to the same owner; Provided, That when the whole of a[n] estate to be condemned is made up by the grouping of two (2) or more properties or parcels of lands which, due to their abutting each other, constitute one single piece of property, whether or not belonging to the same owner, said property, the object of condemnation may, for all purposes of the proceedings, be described in the complaint as if it were one sole estate. The complaint may be directed against the owners of the estate, the occupants thereof, and all other persons having a right or interest therein; or it may be directed against the property itself. In this latter case, the complaint shall recite, as far as it may be possible for the plaintiff to determine, the names of all persons who as owners, occupants, or holders of any right or interest in the estate, must be served with notice of the proceedings, to the end of any right they may have to the compensation fixed for the value of the condemned property, or to any damages that may arise from the proceedings.
History —Mar. 12, 1903, p. 50, § 4; Mar. 12, 1908, p. 94, § 2; Apr. 1, 1941, No. 2, p. 284, § 1; May 7, 1948, No. 105, p. 240, § 1.