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CHAPTER III.

Of Servitudes imposed by Law.

ART. 660.-Servitudes imposed by law are established either for the public or common utility, or for the utility of individuals.

ART. 661.-Services imposed for the public or common utility, relate to the space which is to be left for public use by the adjacent proprietors on the shores of navigable rivers, and for the making or repairing of levees, roads and other public or common works.

All that relates to this kind of servitude is determined by laws or particular regulations.

ART. 662.-The law imposes upon the proprietors various obligations towards one another, independent of all agreements; and those are the obligations which are prescribed in the following articles.

ART. 663.-Although a proprietor may do with his estate whatever he pleases, still he cannot make any work on it, which may deprive his neighbor of the liberty of enjoying his own, or which may be the cause of any damage to him.

ART. 664.-Although one be not at liberty to make any work by which his neighbor's buildings may be damaged, yet every one has the liberty of doing on his own ground whatsoever he pleases, even although it should occasion some inconvenience to his neighbor.

Thus he who is not subject to any servitude originating from a particular agreement in that respect, may raise his house as high as he pleases, although by such elevation he should darken the lights of his neighbor's house, because this act occasions only an inconvenience, but not a real damage.

ART. 665.—If the works or materials for any manufactory or other operation, cause an inconvenience to

those in the same or in the neighboring houses, by diffuing smoke or nauseous smell, and there be no servitude established, by which they are regulated, their sufferance must be determined by the rules of the police, or the customs of the place.

ART. 666.-Every one is bound to keep his buildings in repair, so that neither their fall, nor that of any part of the materials composing them, may injure the neighbors or passengers, under the penalty of all losses and damages, which may result from the neglect of the proprietor in that respect.

ART. 667.-When a building threatens ruin, the neighbor has a right of action against the proprietor to compel him to cause such a building to be demolished or propped up. In the mean time, if he incurs the danger of any damage by its fall, he may be authorized to make the necessary works, for which he shall be reimbursed, after the damage shall have been ascertained by persons of the art.

ART. 668.—The councils and other municipal bodies of cities and other incorporated places of this state, are authorized to make such regulations as they may think proper, to determine the mode of proceeding in case of fire, when it becomes necessary in order to arrest its progress, to pull down houses which have taken fire, or even those which the fire has not reached.

But in this case the proprietors whose houses have been thus pulled down before they have taken fire, shall have a right to an indemnification in proportion to their loss, which indemnification shall be paid by the corporation of the city or place where the conflagration has taken place, by means of an extraordinary and proportional tax, which shall be laid to this effect upon all proprietors of houses of the said place, or in any other manner, from the funds of the corporation.

ART. 669.-He who builds either above or below his

soil, adjoining the property of his neighbor, is bound to build in a perpendicular line.

ART. 670.-The other particular services imposed by law, relate to the following objects:

To boundary walls, inclosures and ditches.

To cases, when it is necessary to have double or counter walls.

To the right of lights on the property of a neighbor;
To carrying off water from roofs;
And to the right of passages.

SECTION I.

Of Walls, Fences, and Ditches in common.

ART. 671.-He who first builds in the cities, towns or suburbs of this state, in a place which is not surrounded by walls, may rest one half of his wall on the land of his neighbor, provided he builds with stones or bricks at least as high as the first story, and not in frame or otherwise; and provided the whole thickness of this wall do not exceed eighteen inches, not including the plaistering, which must not be more than three inches.

But he cannot compel his neighbor to contribute to the raising of this wall.

ART. 672.-If the neighbor be willing to contribute for his half to the building of the wall thus raised, then this wall is a wall in common between the proprietors.

The neighbor, who has even refused to contribute to the raising of this wall, preserves still a right of making it a wall in common, by paying to the person who has made the advance, the half of what he has laid out for its construction, according to the rules hereafter established.

ART. 673.-Every wall being a separation betwixt buildings as high as the upper part of the first story, or betwixt the yard and garden in the cities, towns and

suburbs of this state, and even any other inclosure in the fields, shall be presumed to be in common, if there be no title, proof or mark to the contrary.

ART. 674.-The repairs and building of walls in common are to be made at the expense of all who have a right to the same, and in proportion to their interest therein.

ART. 675.-Nevertheless every co-proprietor of a wall in common, may be exonerated from contributing to the repairs and rebuilding, by giving up his right of common, provided no building belonging to him be actually supported by the wall thus held in common.

ART. 676.-Every co-proprietor may build against a wall held in common, and cause beams or joists to be placed within two inches of the whole thickness of the wall, saving to the neighbor the right of diminishing with the chisel the length of the beam till it do not exceed the half of the thickness of the wall, in case he himself should wish to fix beams in the same place, or to build a chimney against it.

ART. 677.-Every co-proprietor is at liberty to increase the height of the wall held in common, but he alone is to be at the expense of raising it, and of repairing and keeping the part above the height of the wall in common in good order, and besides he alone is liable for all expenses arising from its being raised higher according to its value.

ART. 678.-If the wall held in common cannot support the additional weight of raising it, he who wishes to have it made higher, is bound to rebuild it anew entirely, at his own expense, and the additional thickness must be taken from his property.

ART. 679.—The neighbor who did not contribute to the raising of the wall held in common, may cause the raised part to become common, by paying one-half the expense of such raising, and the value of the half

of the soil employed for the additional thickness, if there

is any.

ART. 680.-Every proprietor enjoying a wall has, in like manner, the right of making it a wall in common, in whole or in part, by reimbursing to the owner of the wall one half of its value, or the half of the part which he wishes to hold in common, and one half of the value of the soil upon which the wall is built, if the person who has built the wall, has laid the foundation entirely upon his own estate.

ART. 681.-Neither of the two neighbors can make any cavity within the body of the wall held by them in common, nor can he affix to it any work without the consent of the other, or without having, on his refusal, caused the necessary precaution to be used, so that the new work be not an injury to the rights of the other, to be ascertained by persons skilled in building.

ART. 682.-Every one has a right to compel his neighbor within the cities, towns and suburbs of this state, to contribute to the making and repairing of the fences held in common, by which their houses, yards and gardens are separated, which shall be made in the manner which is or may be prescribed by the regulations of the police on this subject.

And if one of the proprietors has been alone at the expense of making the inclosures held in common, he may compel the other to make it in his turn, and the presumption shall be that the enclosure was made by him on whose side it is nailed, unless there exists a voucher or proof to the contrary.

ART. 683.-In the country the common boundary inclosure between two estates is made at the expense of the adjacent estates, if the estates are inclosed; otherwise, the estate which is not inclosed, is not bound to contribute to it.

ART. 684.-Every fence, which separate rural estates,

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