Article I. On the Acceptance of Another's Thing

634. • General Principle. The owner alone of a thing has of himself the right of possessing it, nor does he lose the dominion of the thing, into whosever hands at last it may come. - It is said, of himself, because any other possessor, even of good faith, has the right of possessing the thing only by accident and from invincible error. - Thus all laws establish. - But from this general principle these four very well-known axioms flow of themselves, which will recur very often in the course of this treatment, namely:

1. The thing cries to its owner, that is, the strict right of recovering his thing belongs to the owner wherever he may find it.

2. The thing fructifies for the owner, because use and enjoyment are necessarily included in the idea of perfect dominion.

3. The thing naturally perishes for the owner, because when the object of dominion fails, dominion itself also vanishes. Yet if it still exists in an equivalent, that equivalent belongs to the owner.

4. No one ought to be unjustly enriched from the thing of another; or in other words: The measure of restitution is the quantity of another's thing detained without cause. The reason is plain; for it belongs to the owner alone of the thing to receive utility from the same.

But these principles, besides the fact that sometimes according to the diverse laws of places they receive a diverse application, are further modified according to the diverse condition of the possessor. For someone can possess another's thing either with good faith, or with bad faith, or with doubtful faith. Therefore one must speak: 1. of the possessor of good faith; 2. of the possessor of bad faith; 3. of the possessor of doubtful faith.