ART. 525. [517.]-If an artificer, or any person whatever, has employed materials which did not belong to him, in making another article, whether the materials may or may not be brought back to their former shape, the person who was the owner of the materials, has a right to claim the thing which was made out of them, on reimbursing the price of the workmanship.

C. N. 570; 4 A. 193.

ART. 526. [518.]-The rule established in the preceding article does not apply when the workmanship is so important that it greatly surpasses the value of the materials which have been employed. Industry, then, is considered as the principal part and gives the workman a right to keep the thing which he has made on condition of reimbursing the price of the materials which were employed.

C. N. 571; 4 A. 193.

ART. 527. [519.]-When a person has employed materials, part of which did, and part of which did not belong to him, in making a thing of a new kind, without either part of the materials being entirely destroyed, but in such a manner that they can not be separated without inconvenience, the thing belongs in common to both proprietors, the share of the one being in proportion to the value of the materials which belonged to him, and of the other in proportion both to the value of the materials which belonged to him, and of the price of the workmanship.

C. N. 572.

ART. 528. [520.]-When a thing has been formed by a mixture of several materials belonging to different proprietors, neither of which can be considered as the principal substance, if the materials can be separated, the proprietor, without whose consent the mixture was made, may demand the separation.

If the materials can not be separated without inconvenience, their owners acquire in common the property of the thing in proportion to the quantity, quality and value of the materials belonging to each of them.

C. N. 573.

ART. 529. [521.]-If the materials belonging to one of the proprietors, be far superior to the others, both in quantity and value, in that case the proprietor of the most valuable materials may claim the thing resulting from the mixture, on reimbursing to the other the value of his materials.

C. N. 574; 16 A. 357.

ART. 530. [522.]-When the thing remains in common to the proprietors of the materials with which it has been formed, it must be sold at auction for the common benefit.

C. N. 575.

ART. 531. [523]-In all cases where the proprietor, whose

materials have been employed unknown to him in making a thing of another kind, has a right to claim the property of that thing, he is at liberty to demand either that the materials be returned to him in the same species, quantity, weight, measure and quality, or that their value be paid.

C. N. 576.

ART. 532. [524.]-Damages may also be recovered against those who have employed materials belonging to others, unknown to them, according to circumstances; and they are still liable to be prosecuted criminally, should the case require it.

C. N. 577; 4 A. 193.

TITLE III.

OF USUFRUCT, USE AND HABITATION.

CHAPTER 1.

Of Usufruct.

SECTION 1.

General Principles.

ART. 533. [525.]-Usufruct is the right of enjoying a thing, the property of which is vested in another, and to draw from the same all the profit, utility and advantages which it may produce, provided it be without altering the substance of the thing.

The obligation of not altering the substance of the thing takes place only in the case of perfect usufruct.

C. C. 629 (624); C. N. 578; 10 A. 358; 11 A. 705; 15 A. 170, 171. ART. 534. [526.]-There are two kinds of usufruct:

Perfect usufruct, which is of things which the usufructuary can enjoy without changing their substance, though their substance may be diminished or deteriorated naturally by time or by the use to which they are applied; as a house, a piece of land, furniture and other movable effects.

An imperfect or quasi usufruct, which is of things which would be useless to the usufructuary, if he did not consume or expend them, or change the substance of them, as money, grain, liquors. (Am'd.) 16 A. 357, 358.

ART. 535. [527.]-Perfect usufruct does not transfer to the usufructuary the ownership of the thing subject to the usufruct; the usufructuary is bound to use them as a prudent administrator

would do, to preserve them as much as possible, in order to restore them to the owner as soon as the usufruct terminates.

10 A. 358; 16 A. 357, 558; 18 A. 285.

ART. 536. [528.]-Imperfect usufruct, on the contrary, transfers to the usufructuary the ownership of the things subject to the usufruct, so that he may consume, sell or dispose of them, as he thinks proper, subject to certain charges hereinafter prescribed. ART. 537. [529.]-Usufruct is an incorporeal thing, because it consists in a right.

10 L. 92, 246.

ART. 538. [530.]-Usufruct is divisible; for if this right is vested in several persons at a time, there is but one usufruct, which is divided among them, each having his portion. The reason is because the object of this right is the receiving the fruits of the thing, which are corporeal and divisible.

ART. 539. [531.]-Usufruct may, from its origin, be conferred on several persons in divided or undivided portions.

10 L. 246; 11 A. 106.

ART. 540. [532.]-Usufruct may be established by all sorts of titles; by a deed of sale, by a marriage contract, by donation, compromise, exchange, last will and even by operation of law. Thus the usufruct to which a father is entitled on the estate of his children during the marriage, is a legal usufruct.

C. N 579; 10 A. 28; 12 A. 885; 14 A. 536.

ART. 541. [533.]-Usufruct may be established on every description of estates, movable or immovable, corporeal and incorporeal.

C. N. 581.

ART. 542. [534.]-Usufruct may be established simply, or to take place at a certain day, or under condition; in a word, under all such modifications as the person who gives such a right may be pleased to annex to it.

C. N. 580; 10 A. 106.

ART. 543. [535.]-It may be granted to all such as may be possessed of an estate, even to communities or corporations.

C. N. 580.

SECTION 2.

Of the Rights of the Usufructuary.

ART. 544. [536.]-All kinds of fruits, natural, cultivated or civil, produced, during the existence of the usufruct, by the things subject to it, belong to the usufructuary.

(Am'd.) C. N. 580, 582; 10 L. 92; 19 L. 509; 3 A. 600; 6 A. 634; 11 A. 297; 18 A. 269.

ART. 545. [537.]-Natural fruits are such as are the spontaneous product of the earth; the product and increase of cattle are likewise natural fruits.

The fruits, which result from industry bestowed on a piece of ground, are those which are obtained by cultivation.

Civil fruits are rents of real property, the interest of money, and annuities.

All other kinds of revenue or income derived from property. by the operation of the law or private agreement, are civil fruits.

C. N. 583, 584; 6 A. 634.

ART. 546. [538.]—The natural fruits, or such as are the product of industry, hanging by branches or by roots at the time when the usufruct is open, belong to the usufructuary.

Fruits in the same state, at the moment when the usufruct is at an end, belong to the owner, without being obliged to compensate the other, for either work or seeds.

C. N. 585; 3 A. 489; 20 A. 159; 22 A. 499.

ART. 547. [540]-Rents and income of property, interest of money, and annuities, and other civil fruits, are supposed to be obtained day by day, and they belong to the usufructuary, in proportion to the duration of his usufruct, and are due to him, though they may not be collected at the expiration of his usufruct.

C. N. 586.

ART. 548. [541.]-The usufruct of a house carries with it the enjoyment of the house, of the profits which it may bring, and indeed of such furniture as is permanently fixed therein, even should the title by which the usufruct is established make no mention of the same.

ART. 549. [542.]-If the usufruct includes things, which can not be used without being expended or consumed, or without their substance being changed, the usufructuary has the right to dispose of them at his pleasure, but under the obligation of returning the same quantity, quality and value to the owner, or their estimated price, at the expiration of the usufruct.

C. C. 667 (663); C. N. 587; 3 R. 329; 3 A. 494.

ART. 550. [543.]—If the usufruct comprehends things which, though not consumed at once, are gradually impaired by wear and decay, such as furniture, the usufructuary has, in like manner a right to make use of them for the purposes for which they are intended, and at the expiration of the usufruct he is obliged only to restore them in the state in which they may be, provided they have not been impaired through his fault or neglect.

And even should any of these things be entirely worn out by use at the expiration of the usufruct, the usufructuary is not bound to make good the same.

C. C. 667 (663); C. N. 589; 3 A. 494.

ART. 551. [544.]-The usufructuary has a right to draw all the profits which are usually produced by the thing subject to the usufruct.

Accordingly he may cut trees on land of which he has the usufruct, take from it earth, stones, sand and other materials, but for his use only, and for the amelioration and cultivation of the land, provided he act in that respect as a prudent administrator, and without abusing this right.

C. N. 590, 591; 3 A. 494.

ART. 552. [545.]-The usufructuary has a right to the enjoyment and proceeds of mines and quarries in the land subject to. the usufruct, if they were actually worked before the commencement of the usufruct; but he has no right to mines and quarries not opened.

C. N. 598; 3 A. 494.

ART. 553. [546.]-The usufructuary enjoys the increase brought by alluvion to the land of which he has the usufruct, but has no right to islands formed in a stream not navigable opposite the land; they belong to the riparian proprietors, as is prescribed in the title: Of Things.

In like manner he has no right, not even the right of enjoyment, to the treasure which may be discovered in the land of which he has the usufruct, unless he himself has discovered it, in which case he shall only enjoy the right granted by law to such persons as find a treasure in a piece of land, the property of another person.

C. C. 3423 (3386); C. N. 596, 716; 3 A. 494.

ART. 554. [547.]-The usufructuary enjoys the rights of servitudes, ways or others due to the inheritance of which he has the usufruct; and if this inheritance is inclosed within the other lands of him who has established such usufruct, a way must be gratuitously furnished to the usufructuary by the owner of the land or by his heirs.

C. N. 597; 3 A. 494; 11 A. 705.

ART. 555. [548.]-The usufructuary may enjoy by himself or lease to another, or even sell or give away his right; but all the contracts or agreements which he makes in this respect, whatever duration he may have intended to give them, cease of right at the expiration of the usufruct.

C. C. 638 (634), 1499 (1486), 2681 (2651); C. N. 595; 3 A. 494. ART. 556. [549.]-The usufructuary can maintain all actions against the owner and third persons, which may be necessary to insure him the possession, enjoyment and preservation of his right.

(Am'd.) C. C. 1309 (1232); 3 A. 494; 15 A. 154, 158.