not granted against sales of moveables, slaves and produce, nor when rights to a succession have been sold to a stranger, nor in matter of transfer of credits, nor against sales of real property made by virtue of any decree or process of a court of justice.

ART. 2573.-Actions for rescision of sales on account of læsion beyond moiety must be commenced within four years. These four years, with respect to minors, begin only from the day they become of age. With respect to persons of full age, they begin from the day of

the sale.

ART. 2574.-This delay runs with and is not suspended by that granted for redemption.

ART. 2575.-The seller who demands the rescision on account of læsion beyond the moiety, must resume the possession of the thing, in the state in which it is.

The buyer, in this case, is not bound for the injury sustained through his fault before the demand. He is only bound to make reimbursement for such injuries as he has turned to his own profit.

ART. 2576.-The buyer is entitled to repayment for ameliorations which he has effected, although they be merely for pleasure and convenience.

ART. 2577.-He may remain in possession of the thing sold, until the seller has restored the price which he paid, together with his expenses..

ART. 2578.-The provisions, contained in the preceding section, relative to the case where several copartners have sold a thing, either jointly or separately, and to that where the vendor has left several heirs, must likewise be applied to the exercise of the action of rescision.

CHAPTER IX.

Of Sales by Auction or Public Sales.

ART. 2579.-The sale by auction is that which takes

place when the thing is offered publicly to be sold to whoever will give the highest price.

ART. 2580.-This sale is either voluntary or forced: voluntary, when the owner himself offers his property for sale in this manner; forced, when the law prescribes this mode of sale for certain property, such as that of

minors.

ART. 2581.-The sale by auction, as it is made by officers of justice, is treated of separately, under the title of judicial sale.

ART. 2582.-The sale by auction, whether made at the will of the seller, or by direction of the law, is subjected to the rules hereafter mentioned.

ART. 2583.-It cannot be made directly by the seller himself, but must be made through the ministry of a public officer, appointed for that purpose.

ART. 2584.-This officer, after having received in writing, from the seller, the conditions of the sale, must proclaim them, in a loud and audible voice, and afterwards propose that a bid shall be made for the property thus offered.

ART. 2585.-When the highest price offered has been cried long enough to make it probable that no higher will be offered, he who has made the offer is publicly declared to be the purchaser, and the thing sold is adjudicated to him.

ART. 2586.-This adjudication is the completion of the sale; the purchaser becomes the owner of the object adjudged, and the contract is, from that time, subjected to the same rules which govern the ordinary contract of sale.

ART. 2587.-If the adjudication be made on condition that the price shall be paid in cash, the auctioneer may require the price immediately, before delivering possession of the thing sold.

ART. 2588.-If the object adjudged is an immoveable

or a slave, for which the law requires that the act of sale shall be passed in writing, the purchaser may retain the price, and the seller the possession of the thing, until the act be passed.

This act ought to be passed within twenty-four hours after the adjudication, if one of the parties require it: he who occasions a further delay, is responsible to the other in damages.

ART. 2589.—In all cases of sale by auction, whether of moveables, or of slaves or immoveables, if the person to whom adjudication is made, does not pay the price at the time required, agreeably to the two preceding articles, the seller at the end of ten days, and after the customary notices, may again expose to public sale the thing sold, as if the first adjudication had never been made; and if at the second crying, the thing is adjudged for a smaller price than that which had been offered by the person to whom the first adjudication was made, the latter remains a debtor to the vendor, for the deficiency, and for all the expenses incurred subsequent to the first sale. But if a higher price is offered for the thing, than that for which it was first adjudged, the first purchaser has no claim for the excess.

ART. 2590.-At this second crying, the first purchaser cannot be allowed to bid, either directly or through the intervention of another person.

ART. 2591.-When a thing is exposed to public sale, with notice that the buyer shall give endorsed notes for the price, he is bound, immediately after the sale, if required, to acquaint the auctioneer or the seller with the name of the person whom he offers for endorser, and if this endorser does not suit the seller, or, in his absence, the auctioneer, the adjudication is considered as not having been made.

ART. 2592.-The refusal by the seller to receive the endorser whom the purchaser offers, renders him respon.

sible in damages to the latter, if it be proved that the endorser proposed is good and solvent.

ART. 2593.-The adjudication can only be made to a bidder present, or properly represented. The person who bids in the name of another, without sufficient authority to bind him, is considered as having bought on his own account, and is answerable for all the consequences of the adjudication.

CHAPTER X.

Of Judicial Sales.

ART. 2594.-Sales which are made by authority of law, are of two kinds :

1. Those which take place when the property of a debtor has been seized by order of a court, to be sold for the purpose of paying the creditor;

2. Those which are ordered in matters of succession or partition.

ART. 2595.-Judicial sales are subject to the rules laid down above for public sales in general, in all such things as are not contrary to the formalities expressly prescribed for such sales, and with the modifications contained hereafter.

SECTION I.

Of Sales on Seizure or Execution.

ART. 2596.-The sale on seizure is made at public auction by the sheriff or other officer charged with the execution of the judgment.

ART. 2597.-Whatever may be the vices of the thing sold on execution, they do not give rise to the redhibitory action; but the sale may be set aside in the case of fraud, and declared null in cases of nullity.

ART. 2598.-The sale on execution transfers the property of the thing to the purchaser as completely as if the

owner had sold it himself; but it transfers only the rights of the debtor such as they are.

ART. 2599.-The purchaser evicted from property purchased under execution, shall have his recourse for reimbursement against the debtor and creditor; but, upon the judgment obtained jointly for that purpose, the pur-. chaser shall first take execution against the debtor, and upon the return of such execution no property found, then he shall be at liberty to take out execution against the creditor.

SECTION II.

Of the Judicial Sale of the Property of Successions.

ART. 2600.-The judicial sale of succession property is made by the judge or clerk of the court to which this jurisdiction is specially confided.

ART. 2601.-The adjudication made and recorded by the judge or clerk of the court, is a complete title to the purchaser, and needs not be followed by an act passed before a notary.

ART. 2602.-All the warranties to which private sales are subject, exist against the heir in judicial sales of the property of successions.

ART. 2603.-Heirs may purchase the property of the succession to the amount of their proportion, and are not obliged to pay the purchase money, until a liquidation is had, by which it is ascertained what balance there is in their favour or against them.

CHAPTER XI.

Of the Compulsory Transfer of Property. ART. 2604.-The first law of society being that the general interest shall be preferred to that of individuals, every individual, who possesses, under the protection of the laws, any particular property, is tacitly subjected to