Morals of the Church
Library › Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis › Volume II › Treatise XI. On The Virtue Of Justice And The Opposed Vices › Section I. On Right And On The Virtue Of Justice Itself › Question III. On The Violation Of Justice And The Reparation Of Violated Justice › Chapter IV. On Restitution Or The Reparation Of An Injured Right › Article II. On The Roots Of Restitution To Be Made

Section — Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis

§ 1. On The First Root Of Restitution, Or On The Possession Of Another's Thing

208.

208. Notions. Someone can possess, or rather detain, another's thing in three ways: 1. in good faith; 2. in doubtful faith; 3. in bad faith. According to these modes and diverse conditions, diverse obligations of restitution also arise. - Since another's thing ought to be restored with its fruits, the expenses nevertheless being deducted, certain things must be noted beforehand concerning the diverse fruits and expenses.

Fruits are customarily distinguished as being of four kinds:

  1. Natural fruits, which are produced by the thing without any or with little human industry, e.g., grass in fields.

  2. Industrial fruits, which are acquired by human industry alone, although the thing itself is employed as an instrument, e.g., the profit of trading, an artistic work made with another's instrument or from another's material.

  3. Mixed fruits, which are produced almost equally from the nature of the thing and from human industry; e.g., butter and cheese are such fruits of a cow.

  4. Civil fruits, which arise from the letting of a thing, e.g., the price for the letting of a house, a beast of burden, hunting rights, etc. They are called civil for this reason, that the civil law regards them as fruits of the thing; but they are reduced to natural, mixed, or industrial fruits according as they proceed rather from the nature of the thing, from human industry, or from both together.

Expenses are distinguished as being of three kinds:

  1. Necessary expenses, without which the thing either would have perished or would have become worse, e.g., the food of animals and necessary repairs.

  2. Useful expenses, which indeed are not absolutely necessary, but nevertheless reasonably increase the value of the thing, e.g., the planting of trees.

  3. Voluptuary expenses, which do not increase the fruits of the thing, but are only an ornament, e.g., fountains in a garden, paintings on walls, etc. Sometimes useful and voluptuary expenses are not so easily distinguished.

First Root of Restitution

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