Louisiana Civil Code

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TITLE III - PERSONAL SERVITUDES

 

CHAPTER 1 - KINDS OF SERVITUDES

Art. 533. There are two kinds of servitudes: personal servitudes and predial servitudes. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1]

Art. 534. A personal servitude is a charge on a thing for the benefit of a person. There are three sorts of personal servitudes: usufruct, habitation, and rights of use. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1]

CHAPTER 2 - USUFRUCT

SECTION 1 - GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Art. 535. Usufruct is a real right of limited duration on the property of another. The features of the right vary with the nature of the things subject to it as consumables or nonconsumables. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1]

Art. 536. Consumable things are those that cannot be used without being expended or consumed, or without their substance being changed, such as money, harvested agricultural products, stocks of merchandise, foodstuffs, and beverages. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1]

Art. 537. Nonconsumable things are those that may be enjoyed without alteration of their substance, although their substance may be diminished or deteriorated naturally by time or by the use to which they are applied, such as lands, houses, shares of stock, animals, furniture, and vehicles. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1]

Art. 538. If the things subject to the usufruct are consumables, the usufructuary becomes owner of them. He may consume, alienate, or encumber them as he sees fit. At the termination of the usufruct he is bound either to pay to the naked owner the value that the things had at the commencement of the usufruct or to deliver to him things of the same quantity and quality. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1; Acts 2010, No. 881, §1, eff. Jul. 2, 2010]

Art. 539. If the things subject to the usufruct are nonconsumables, the usufructuary has the right to possess them and to derive the utility, profits, and advantages that they may produce, under the obligation of preserving their substance.

He is bound to use them as a prudent administrator and to deliver them to the naked owner at the termination of the usufruct. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1]

Art. 540. Usufruct is an incorporeal thing. It is movable or immovable according to the nature of the thing upon which the right exists. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1]

Art. 541. Usufruct is susceptible to division, because its purpose is the enjoyment of advantages that are themselves divisible. It may be conferred on several persons in divided or undivided shares, and it may be partitioned among the usufructuaries. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1]

Art. 542. The naked ownership may be partitioned subject to the rights of the usufructuary. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1]

Art. 543. When property is held in indivision, a person having a share in full ownership may demand partition of the property in kind or by licitation, even though there may be other shares in naked ownership and usufruct.

A person having a share in naked ownership only or in usufruct only does not have this right, unless a naked owner of an undivided share and a usufructuary of that share jointly demand partition in kind or by licitation, in which event their combined shares shall be deemed to constitute a share in full ownership. [Acts 1983, No. 535, §1]

Art. 544. Usufruct may be established by a juridical act either inter vivos or mortis causa, or by operation of law. The usufruct created by juridical act is called conventional; the usufruct created by operation of law is called legal.

Usufruct may be established on all kinds of things, movable or immovable, corporeal or incorporeal. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1]

Art. 545. Usufruct may be established for a term or under a condition, and subject to any modification consistent with the nature of usufruct.

The rights and obligations of the usufructuary and of the naked owner may be modified by agreement unless modification is prohibited by law or by the grantor in the act establishing the usufruct. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1]

Art. 546. Usufruct may be established in favor of successive usufructuaries. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1]

Art. 547. When the usufruct is established in favor of several usufructuaries, the termination of the interest of one usufructuary inures to the benefit of those remaining, unless the grantor has expressly provided otherwise. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1]

Art. 548. When the usufruct is established by an act inter vivos, the usufructuary must exist or be conceived at the time of the execution of the instrument. When the usufruct is established by an act mortis causa, the usufructuary must exist or be conceived at the time of the death of the testator. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1]

Art. 549. Usufruct may be established in favor of a natural person or a juridical person. [Acts 1976, No. 103, §1, Acts 2010, No. 881, §1, eff. Jul. 2, 2010]




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