Article III. On Hypothec

939. • Hypothec is a contract by which an immovable thing is obligated to the creditor, so that from it he may be able to pay himself, if the debtor has not paid.

A hypothec is distinguished into a threefold kind: namely legal, judicial, and conventional.

1. Legal hypothec, which is also called implicit or tacit, is that which is instituted by force of law alone and without any special agreement: thus a wife has a hypothec on all the goods of the husband for recovering the dowry.

2. Judicial hypothec is that which is established by decree of a judge in favor of those who have obtained the case: if, for example, a judge condemns someone to repairing a certain damage, by force of that sentence all the immovable goods of the condemned person, present and future, are burdened with hypothec for repairing this damage. It is required, moreover, that this sentence of the judge be inscribed with the conservator of hypothecs, and it obtains force only from the day of inscription.

3. Conventional hypothec, or that which the parties establish among themselves by mutual agreement, is a solemn contract by which a person fit for contracting obligates goods specially designated to the creditor for insurance and payment of a determined debt. Therefore it must be made before a notary, with certain formalities under pain of nullity at least in the external forum, and by a person fit for contracting, or one who has the free administration of his goods; hence minors, the interdicted, and wives cannot hand over anything in hypothec (Art. 2124 and following). - See Cases, n. 1015.