the obligation of yielding it to the community, wherever it becomes necessary for the general use.

ART. 2605.-If the proprietor of a thing necessary for the general use, refuses to yield it, or demands an exorbitant price, he may be divested of the property by the au2 thority of law.

ART. 2606.-In all cases, a fair price should be given to the owner for the thing of which he is dispossessed. ART. 2607.-This price ought to be paid to him before the expropriation, that is to say, before he has delivered the possession, or it has been finally taken from him, in case of resistance.

ART. 2608.-For the purpose of ascertaining this fair price, the judge, within whose jurisdiction the property to be taken for the common use is situated, shall cause to be convoked, within eight days by the sheriff, a jury of twelve freeholders, who, after having been duly sworn, shall declare what sum the property is worth, regard being had, not only to the general value of property of the same nature and quality, but to the particular value which it may possess in relation to the rest of the estate from which it is to be dismembered to the injury which this dismemberment may cause to the owner.

ART. 2609.-The owner shall be summoned at the same time, to appear before this jury, to defend his rights, and he may challenge for cause any of the members in the same manner as he might challenge ordinary jurors.

ART. 2610.-The verdict of the jury, and the judgment which shall be founded on it, are conclusive, except on appeal.

ART. 2611.-If, after the expropriation, any individual pretends that he had rights respecting the thing, either as owner or as creditor, he shall have recourse against the person who received the price.

CHAPTER XII.

Of the Assignment or Transfer of Debts and other Incorporeal Rights.

ART. 2612.-In the transfer of debts, rights or claims to a third person, the delivery takes place between the transferrer and transferree by the giving of the title.

ART. 2613.-The transferree is only possessed, as it regards third persons, after notice has been given to the debtor of the transfer having taken place.

The transferree may nevertheless become possessed by the acceptance of the transfer by the debtor in an authentic act.

ART. 2614.-If, previous to notice having been given of the transfer to the debtor, either by the transferrer or by the transferree, the debtor should have made payment to the transferrer, the debtor is discharged of the debt.

ART. 2615.-The sale or transfer of a debt includes every thing which is an accessory to the same as suretyship, privileges and mortgages.

ART. 2616.-He who sells a debt or an incorporeal right, warrants its existence at the time of the transfer, though no warranty be mentioned in the deed.

ART. 2617.-The seller does not warrant the solvency of the debtor, unless he has agreed so to do.

ART. 2618.-When the solvency of a debtor is warranted by contract, such warrant extends only to the actual solvency of the debtor, and not to his future solvency, unless the same be expressly submitted to by the transferrer.

ART. 2619.-If it be proved that the assigner, who has not warranted the solvency of the debtor, knew or had strong reasons to suspect that the debtor was insolvent at the time of the assignment, the contract may be rescinded, and the assigner compelled to restore the price.

ART. 2620.-When a man sells his right to a succession, without particularly specifying the objects of which it consists, he only warrants his right as an heir.

ART. 2621.-In case he who sells his right to a succession has already received any of the fruits of any property belonging to the same, and if any debt due to that succession has been paid to him, he shall be bound to repay the same to the purchaser, unless the same has been excepted by the contract.

ART. 2622.-He against whom a litigious right has been transferred, may get himself released hy paying to the transferree the real price of the transfer, together with the interest from its date.

ART. 2623.—A right is said to be litigious, whenever there exists a suit and contestation on the same."

ART. 2624.-The provisions of article 2622 do not apply:

1. When the transfer has been made either to a coheir or to the co-proprietor of the right;

2. When such right has been transferred to a creditor as a payment for a debt due to him;

3. When the transfer has been made to the possessor of the inheritance subject to the litigious right.

CHAPTER XIII.

Of the Giving in Payment.

ART. 2625.-The giving in payment is an act by which a debtor gives a thing to the creditor, who is willing to receive it, in payment of a sum which is due.

ART. 2626.-The giving in payment differs from the ordinary contract of sale in this, that the latter is perfect by the mere consent of the parties, even before the delivery, while the giving in payment is made only by delivery.

ART. 2627. From this distinction result consequences

which are different in relation to the risk of the thing sold, which, in this species of contract, never falls upon the creditor, before delivery, unless he has delayed beyond a reasonable time to obtain it.

ART. 2628.-This difference gives rise to another in the effect of these contracts, in cases of the insolvency of the debtor. He may, although insolvent, lawfully sell for the price which is paid to him ; but the law forbids to give in payment to one creditor, to the prejudice of the others, any other thing than the sum of money due.

ART. 2629.-Except with these differences, the giving in payment is subjected to all the rules which govern the ordinary contract of sale.

TITLE VIII.

Of Exchange.

ART. 2630.-An exchange is a contract, by which the contractors give one another, one thing for another, whatever it be, except money, for in that case it would be a sale.

ART. 2631.-An exchange takes places by the bare consent of the parties.

ART. 2632.-If one of the exchangers, after having received the thing given to him in exchange, learns that the other exchanger is not the proprietor of that thing, he cannot be compelled to deliver that which he had promised to give in exchange; he is only bound to return the thing which he has received.

ART. 2633.-The exchanger, who is evicted by a judgment of the thing he has received in exchange, has his choice either to sue for damages or for the thing he gave in exchange.

ART. 2634.-The rescision of contract on account of

læsion is not allowed in contracts of exchange, except in

the following cases.

ART. 2635.-The rescision on account oflæsion beyond moiety, takes place, when one party gives immoveable property to the other in exchange for moveable property; in that case, the person having given the immoveable estate may obtain a rescision, if the moveables which he has received, are not worth more than the one half of the value of the real estate.

But he who has given oveable property in exchange for immoveable estate, cannot obtain a rescision of the contract, even in case the things given by him were worth twice as much as the immoveable estate.

ART. 2636.-The rescision on account of læsion beyond moiety, may take place on a contract of exchange, if a balance has been paid in money or in moveable property, and if the balance paid exceeds by one moiety the total value of the immoveable property given in exchange by the person to whom the balance has been paid; in that case it is only the person who has paid such balance who may demand the rescision of the contract on account of læsion.

ART. 2637.-All the other provisions relative to the contract of sale apply to the contract of exchange.

And in this contract each of the parties is individually considered in the double sight of vendor and vendee.

TITLE IX.

Of Letting and Hiring.

ART. 2638.-The contract of lease or letting out, besides the rules to which it is subject in common with other agreements, and which are explained under the title of conventional obligations, is governed by certain particular rules, which are the subject of the present title.