Table of Contents

TITLE XI – OF DEPOSIT AND SEQUESTRATION

  

CHAPTER I – OF DEPOSIT IN GENERAL AND OF ITS DIVERS KINDS

Art. 1. A deposit is, in general, any act by which a person receives into his possession, a thing belonging to another, taking upon himself to keep it safe for the owner and to restore it in kind.
The deposit taken in this general acceptation, comprises the conventional or judicial sequestration.
Yet there are some points of difference between the deposit properly so called and the conventional or judicial sequestration, and these shall be the subject of particular chapters of the present title.

 

CHAPTER II – OF THE DEPOSIT PROPERLY SO CALLED

Art. 2. A deposit is a contract by which one or more persons put a thing into the possession of another person who undertakes to take care of it gratuitously and to restore it, when the person or persons who have entrusted him with it, please to demand it.
It is either voluntary or necessary.

 

SECTION I – OF THE NATURE AND ESSENCE OF THE CONTRACT OF DEPOSIT

Art. 3. The object of a deposit must be properly some moveable thing, but slaves also may be deposited.

Art. 4. It is essentially gratuitous; if the person with whom the deposit is made, receive a compensation, it is no longer a deposit but a hiring.

Art. 5. It produces reciprocal obligations between the person with whom the deposit is made and him who makes it, and for that reason, like all other contracts, it can take place only between persons capable of contracting.

Art. 6. If the deposit has been made with a person capable of contracting by a person incapable, such as a person under puberty, a minor, or one under interdiction, or a married woman, it produces against the person with whom the deposit is made, all the obligations resulting from that kind of contract, which shall be enforced by the tutor or the administrator of the person who has made the deposit.

Art. 7. If the deposit was made by a person capable of contracting to another person not having that capacity, he who has made the deposit has only an action of claim for the thing as long as it remains in the hands of the depository, or an action of restitution for the amount of the benefit the depository has derived from it.

Art. 8. A deposit can be regularly made only by the owner of the thing deposited or with his express or tacit consent.
It cannot be reciprocally established without the express or tacit consent of the depository.

Art. 9. There is a tacit consent, whenever the owner has carried the thing or caused it to be carried to the house of the depository and the thing has been delivered with the knowledge of the depository.

Art. 10. A deposit made by a person not the owner of the thing deposited, is not the less valid against the depository, saving the action of the true owner to be spoken of in the following section.

 

SECTION II – OF THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE DEPOSITORY

Art. 11. The depository contracts the obligation of faithfully keeping the thing confided to his care. He is obliged to take the same care of it, as he takes of things belonging to himself.
This rule however must be applied less rigorously to a gratuitous depository than to him who has received a compensation and has taken charge of the deposit on hire.
In this matter regard is to be had to the quality, the condition, the sex of the depository and to the nature of the circumstances that have occasioned the loss or deterioration of the deposit.

Art. 12. The depository cannot make use of the thing confided to him, for his own benefit, without the permission of the depositor.

Art. 13. He must not violate the secret under which the deposit has been confided to him, either by opening the box containing it, or by breaking the sealed envelope in which it is enclosed, or by giving to any other person, information of the deposit or of its contents.

Art. 14. The depository must restore the identical thing that was deposited with him, though it be a sum of money or a consumable thing.
A deposit of a sum of money must be restored in the same specified coin in which it was made, whether the value of the species be augmented or diminished.

Art. 15. The depository is obliged only to restore the thing deposited in the state in which it may be, at the time of restoring it, even though it be impaired, provided it be not through his fault.
He is exonorated, if the thing has perished by an accident, for which he is not responsible, or has been stolen from him, without any want of care on his part.

Art. 16. A depository from whom the thing deposited has been taken away by force, and who has received a price or any thing in its stead, must restore what he has received in exchange.

Art. 17. The heir of a depository who has sold bona fide a thing which he knew not to be a deposit, is bound only to restore the price which he has received, or to make over his claim against the purchaser, if the price be not paid.

Art. 18. If the thing deposited has been productive, and the proceeds have been received by the depository, he is bound to restore them. He owes no interest for the money deposited in his hands, except from the day on which he became a defaulter by delaying to restore it.

Art. 19. The depository must restore the thing deposited only to him who delivered it to him, or in whose name the deposit was made, or who was pointed out to receive it.

Art. 20. He cannot require him who made the deposit, to prove that he was the owner of the thing.  Yet if he discovers that the thing was stolen and who the owner of it is, he must give notice to him of the deposit, requiring him to claim within due time.  If the owner having received due notice, neglects to claim the deposit, the depository is fully exonorated on returning it to the person from whom he received it.

Art. 21. If the person who made the deposit be deceased, the thing deposited can be restored only to his heir; if there be several heirs, it must be delivered to each of them for his respective part and portion, unless the thing deposited be indivisible, in which case they must agree among themselves.
If the depositor has changed condition, as if a woman marries, or a person of full age, falls under interdiction, the deposit can be restored only to the person who has the administration of the rights and property of the depositor.

Art. 22. If the deposit has been made by a tutor, a husband or by any other administrator, it can be restored, after the function of that administration has ceased, only to him whom he represented.

Art. 23. When the contract specifies a place where the deposit is to be restored, it must be delivered at that place, but the expence of conveyance to the place of delivery, must be borne by the depositor.

Art. 24. If the contract does not specify the place where the deposit must be restored, it shall be restored at the place where such deposit has been made.

Art. 25. The deposit must be restored to the depositor as soon as he demands it, even though the contract may have specified the time for its being restored, unless there be in the hands of the depository an attachment on the property or an opposition made on the owner.

Art. 26. The unfaithful depository is not admitted to the benefit of a surrender.

Art. 27. All the obligations on the depository cease on his discovering and proving that he himself is the owner of the thing deposited.




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