Table of Contents

SECTION III - OF THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE USUFRUCTUARY

Art. 22. The usufructuary takes things in the state in which they are; but it is his duty, before he takes possession, to cause to be made, in presence of the owner, or after the owner has been duly summoned, an inventory with the estimated value of the estate both moveable and immoveable subject to the usufruct, by a notary public duly authorised by the parish judge to that effect and in the presence of two witnesses.

Art. 23. The usufructuary is bound to give security for the amount of the inventory, as a pledge for his enjoying as a good father, if it be an immoveable estate; that he shall return the property in the state in which it is found, not grown worse through any fraud or neglect of his, if it be ordinary furniture; and that he shall pay the estimated value specified in the inventory, if it consists of things liable to be worn out by use.
This security may be dispensed with, in favor of the usufructuary by the act by which the usufruct is established.
The father and mother having the legal usufruct on the estate of their children, neither the seller nor the donor under a reservation of the usufruct, is required to give this security.

Art. 24. If the usufructuary is unable to give security, the immoveable and the slaves subject to the usufruct, shall be either leased, hired or sequestered.
Sums of money, the usufruct of which has been given, shall be put out at interest in a solid way.
And commodities subject to the same usufruct, shall be sold, and the amount of said sale shall be likewise put out at interest.
The interest of said sums, the amount of the real rent of the estate and of the hire of slaves and the produce of the sequestered estate, shall, in such case, belong to the usufructuary.

Art. 25. In case the usufructuary is unable to find security, the owner has a right to insist that such furniture as grows worse by use, be sold, that the proceeds may be placed out at interest, as well as that of the commodities; and in that case the usufructuary enjoys the interest during the usufruct. Nevertheless the usufructuary may claim, and the judge may order, according to circumstances, that a part of the furniture necessary for his use be left to him, under the obligation of returning the same at the expiration of the usufruct.

Art. 26. A delay to give security does not deprive the usufructuary of the profits to which he may have a right. They are due to him from the moment that the usufruct accrued.

Art. 27. It is the duty of the usufructuary to keep the things of which he has the usufruct, and to take the same care of them as a father of a family does of what belongs to him.
He is accordingly answerable for such losses as proceed from any fraud, default or neglect of his.

Art. 28. The usufructuary has a right to make on the estate subject to the usufruct, useful and necessary improvements and repairs, and even to do the same for his bare pleasure; provided it be without making the estate the worse or altering the condition of the place. But as to buildings, he must preserve them such as they have been transmitted to him, nor can he alter their form even to improve it, without the consent of the owner.

Art. 29. The usufruct is liable to all the necessary expences for the preservation and working of the estates subject to the usufruct, such as those necessary for the cultivation of lands and for the maintainance and clothing of slaves, and for the treatment of their diseases.

Art. 30. The usufructuary is bound only to such repairs as are indispensably necessary for keeping in good order the estate subject to the usufruct.
Repairs on a large scale are to be made by the owner himself, unless such repairs have become necessary in consequence of the usufructuary's neglect to make the repairs for keeping the things in good order, since the usufruct has been acquired by him, in which case the usufructuary is likewise bound to make said repairs.

Art. 31. Repairs on a large scale are the building of four principal walls, and of vaults, and the replacing of beams and roofs in toto;
All other repairs are repairs only to keep in good order.

Art. 32. Neither the owner nor the usufructuary is bound to build again what has fallen to ruins owing to its antiquity or has been destroyed by chance.

Art. 33. The usufructuary is liable during his enjoyment to all the annual charges of the estate, such as contributions and other which according to usage are considered as charges on the profits.
He is likewise bound during his enjoyment to cause to be made and repaired, the roads, bridges, ditches, levees and the like, to which the estate is liable.

Art. 34. As to such charges as may be laid on the estate during the period of the usufruct, both the usufructuary and the owner contribute jointly to the acquital of such charges in the following manner; the owner is obliged to pay such charges and the usufructuary pays him the interest of the same. If the usufructuary has advanced of the funds, he has a right to claim the money thus advanced at the expiration of the usufruct.

Art. 35. The legacy of an annuity or alimony left by a testator, is to be wholly acquitted by the universal heir or legatee of the usufruct, and by the heir or legatee on a universal title of the usufruct, in proportion to his enjoyment, without any claim whatever to reimbursement on their part.

Art. 36. The usufructuary on a particular title is not bound to pay the debts for which the estate is mortgaged; if he be compelled to pay them, he has his action against the owner, saving what is stated in the title of donations inter vivos et mortis causa.

Art. 37. The universal usufructuary or the usufructuary on a universal title, shall contribute with the owner to the payment of the debts.
In order to ascertain this contribution, the estate of which he has the usufruct must be valued as well as the sum which is bound to contribute in proportion to this value.
If the usufructuary is willing to advance the sum due by the estate, the amount shall be returned to him at the expiration of the usufruct, without any interest.  But if the usufructuary be unwilling to make the advance, the owner is at liberty, either to pay said sum, and in such case the usufructuary is bound to pay him the interest on said sum during the period of the usufruct, or cause to be sold such a portion of the estate subject to the usufruct, as shall be sufficient to pay what is due by said estate.

Art. 38. The usufructuary is bound to pay no costs but such as result from law suits concerning the enjoyment, and the other penalties to which such law suits may have given rise.

Art. 39. If during the period of the usufruct a third person does make some encroachments on the estate, or violates in any other way, the rights of the owner, it is the duty of the usufructuary to give information of the same to the owner, and if he fails to do it, he shall be answerable for all damages which may result to the owner, as he should be for depredation committed by himself.

Art. 40. If the usufruct consists only of one head of cattle, which dies without any neglect on the part of the usufructuary, he is not bound to return another, or to pay the estimated value of the same.

Art. 41. If a whole herd of cattle subject to the usufruct, dies owing to some accident or disease, without any neglect on the part of the usufructuary he is bound only to return to the owner the hides of said cattle, or the value of said hides; if the whole herd does not die, the usufructuary is bound to make good the number of dead out of the new born cattle as far as they go.

Art. 42. The usufructuary is not bound to return other slaves in the room of such as died during his enjoyment, nor to pay the estimated value of said slaves, unless said slaves died through a fraud or neglect of his.

Art. 43. At the expiration of the usufruct, the usufructuary has no right to claim any compensation for the improvements which he contends he has made, although the value of the thing may have been increased by said improvement.
Nevertheless he himself or his heirs may take away the looking glasses, pictures and other ornaments which he may have placed there, but under the obligation of re-establishing the premises in their former situation. 




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