Louisiana Notary

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Things and Ownership – Accession in relation to movables

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Things and Ownership – Accession in relation to movables

Art. 508. Things principal and accessory. Things are divided into principal and accessory. For purposes of accession as between movables, an accessory is a corporeal movable that serves the use, orna­ment, or complement of the principal thing.

Art. 509. Value or bulk as a basis to determine principal thing. In case of doubt as to which is a principal thing and which is an accessory, the most valuable, or the most bulky if value is nearly equal, shall be deemed to be principal.

Art. 510. Union of a principal and an accessory thing. When two corporeal movables are united to form a whole, d one of them is an accessory of the other, the whole belongs to the owner of the principal thing. The owner of the principal thing is bound to reimburse the owner of the accessory its value. The owner of the accessory may demand that it be separated and returned to him, although the separation may cause some injury to the principal thing, if the accessory is more valuable than the principal and has been used without his knowledge.

Things and Ownership – Accession in relation to immovables

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Things and Ownership – Accession in relation to immovables

Art. 491. Buildings, other constructions, standing timber, and crops Buildings, other constructions permanently attached to the ground, standing timber, and unharvested crops or ungathered fruits of trees may belong to a person other than the owner of the ground. Nevertheless, they are presumed to belong to the owner of the ground, unless separate ownership is evidenced by an instrument flied for registry in the conveyance records of the parish in which the immovable is located.

Art. 492. Separate ownership of part of a building. Separate ownership of a part of a building, such as a floor, an apartment, or a room, may be established only by a juridical act of the owner of the entire building when and in the manner expressly authorized by law.

Art. 493. Ownership of improvements. Buildings, other constructions permanently attached to the ground, and plantings made on the land of another with his consent belong to him who made them. They belong to the owner of the ground when they are made without his consent. “When the owner of buildings, other constructions permanently attached to the ground, or plantings no longer has the right to keep them on the land of another, he may remove them subject to his obligation to restore the property to its former condition. If he does not remove them :within ninety days after written demand, the owner of the land may, after the ninetieth day from the date of mailing the written demand, appropriate ownership of the improvements by providing an additional written notice by certified mail, and upon receipt of the certified mail by the owner of the improvements, the owner of the land obtains ownership of the improvements and owes nothing to the owner of the improvements. Until such time as the owner of the land appropriates the improvements, the improvements shall remain the property of he who made them and he shall be solely responsible for any harm caused by the improvements. When buildings, other constructions permanently attached to the ground, or plantings are made on the separate property of a spouse with community assets or with separate assets of the other spouse and when such improvements are made on community property with the separate assets of a spouse, this Article does not apply. The rights of the spouses are governed by Articles 2366, 2367, and 2367.1.

Art. 493.1. Ownership of component parts. Things incorporated in or attached to an immovable so as to become its component parts under Articles 465 and 466 belong to the owner of the immovable.

Art. 495. Things incorporated in, or attached to, an immovable with the consent of the owner of the immovable. One who incorporates in, or attaches to, the immovable of another, with his consent, things that become component parts of the immovable under Articles 465 and 466, may, in the absence of other provisions of law or juridical acts, remove them subject to his obligation of restoring the property to its former condition. If he does not remove them after demand, the owner of the immovable may have them removed at the expense of the person who made them or elect to keep them and pay, at his option, the current value of the materials and of the workmanship or the enhanced value of the immovable.

Art. 498. Claims against third persons. One who has lost the ownership of a thing to the owner of an immovable may assert against third persons his rights under Articles 493, 493.1, 494, 495, 496, or 497 when they are evidenced by an instrument filed for registry in the appropriate conveyance or mortgage records of the parish in which the immovable is located.

Things and Ownership – Ownership of fruits

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Things and Ownership – Ownership of fruits

Art. 551. Kinds of fruits. Fruits are things that are produced by or derived from another thing without diminution of its substance. There are two kinds of fruits; natural fruits and civil fruits. Natural fruits are products of the earth or of animals. Civil fruits are revenues derived from a thing by operation of law or by reason of a juridical act, such as rentals, interest, and certain corporate distributions.

Things and Ownership – Accession

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Things and Ownership – Accession

Art. 482. Accession. The ownership of a thing includes by accession the ownership of everything that it produces ,or is united with it, either naturally or artificially, in accordance with the following provisions.

Art. 483. Ownership of fruits by accession. In the absence of rights of other persons, the owner of a thing acquires the ownership of its natural and civil fruits.

Art. 490. Accession above and below the surface. Unless otherwise provided by law, the ownership of a tract of land carries with it the ownership of everything that is directly above or under it. The owner may make works on, above, or below the land as he pleases, and draw all the advantages that accrue from them, unless he is restrained by law or by rights of others.

Art. 499. Alluvion and dereliction. Accretion formed successively and imperceptibly on the bank of a river or stream, whether navigable or not, is called alluvion. The alluvion belongs to the owner of the bank, who is bound to leave public that portion of the bank which is required for the public use. The same rule applies to dereliction formed by water receding imperceptibly from a bank of a river or stream. The owner of the land situated at the edge of the bank left dry owns the dereliction.

Things and Ownership – Ownership and Possession

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Things and Ownership – Ownership and Possession

Art. 477. Ownership; content. A. Ownership is the right that confers on a person direct, immediate, and exclusive authority over a thing. The owner of a thing may use, enjoy, and dispose of it within the limits and under the conditions established by law.

Art. 479. Necessity of a person. The right of ownership may exist only in favor of a natural person or a juridical person.

Art. 481. Ownership and possession distinguished. The ownership and the possession of a thing are distinct. Ownership exists independently of any exercise of it and may ‘not be lost by nonuse. Ownership is lost when acquisitive prescription accrues in favor of an adverse possessor.

Art. 3421. Possession. Possession is the detention or enjoyment of a corporeal thing, movable or immovable, that one holds or exercises by himself or by another who keeps or exercises it in his name. The exercise of a real right, such as a servitude, with the intent to have it as one’s own is quasi-possession. The rules governing possession apply by analogy to the quasi-possession of incorporeals.

Art. 3422. Nature of possession; right to possess. Possession is a matter of fact; nevertheless, one who has possessed a thing for over a year acquires the right to possess it.

Art. 478. Resolutory condition; real right in favor of other person. The right of ownership may be subject to a resolutory condition, and it may be burdened with a real right in favor of another person as allowed by law. The ownership of a thing burdened with a usufruct is designated as naked ownership.

Art. 480. Co-ownership. Two or more persons may own the same thing in indivision, each having an undivided share.

Things and Ownership – Immovables and movables

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Things and Ownership – Immovables and movables

Art. 462. Tracts of land. Tracts of land, with their component parts, are immovables.

Art. 463. Component parts of tracts of land. Buildings, other constructions permanently attached to the ground, standing timber, and unharvested crops or ungathered fruits of trees, are component parts of a tract of land when they belong to the owner of the ground.

Art 464. Buildings and standing timber as separate immovables. Buildings and standing timber are separate immovables when they belong to a person other than the owner of the ground.

Art. 465. Things incorporated into an immovable. Things incorporated into a tract of land, a building, or other construction, so as to become an integral part of it, such as building materials, are its component parts.

Art. 466. Component parts of buildings or other constructions. Things that are attached to a building and that, according to prevailing usages, serve to complete a building of the same general type, without regard to its specific use, are its component parts. Component parts of this kind may include doors, shutters, gutters, and cabinetry, as well as plumbing, heating, cooling, electrical, and similar systems. Things that are attached to a construction other than a building and that serve its principal use are its component parts. Other things are component parts of a building or other construction if they are attached to such a degree that they cannot be removed without substantial damage to themselves or to the building or other construction.

Art. 470. Incorporeal immovables. Rights and actions that apply to immovable things are incorporeal immovables. Immovables of this kind are such as personal servitudes established on immov­ables, predial servitudes, mineral rights, and petitory or possessory actions.

Art. 467. Immovables by declaration. The owner of an immovable may declare that machinery, appliances, and equipment owned by him and placed on the immovable, other than his private residence, for its service and improvement are deemed to be its component parts. The declaration shall be filed for registry in the conveyance records of the parish in which the immovable is located.

Art. 468. Deimmobilization. Component parts of an immovable so damaged or deteriorated that they can no longer serve the use of lands or buildings are deimmobilized. The owner may deimmobilize the component parts of an immovable by an act translative of ownership and delivery to acquirers in good faith. In the absence of rights of third persons, the owner may deimmobilize things by detachment or removal.

Art. 471. Corporeal movables. Corporeal movables are things, whether animate or inanimate, that normally move or can be moved from one place to another.

Art. 473. Incorporeal movables. Rights, obligations, and actions that apply to a movable thing are incorporeal movables. Movables of this kind are such as bonds, annuities, and interests or shares in entities possessing juridical personality. Interests or shares in a juridical person that owns immovables are considered as movables as long as the entity exists; upon its dissolution, the right of each individual to a share in the immovables is an immovable.

Art. 475. Things not immovable. All things, corporeal or incorporeal, that the law does not consider as immovables, are movables.

Things and Ownership – Common, public and private things

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Things and Ownership – Common, public and private things

Art. 449. Common things.. Common things may not be owned by anyone. They are such as the air and the high seas that may be freely used by everyone conformably with the use for which nature has intended them.

Art. 450. Public things are owned by the state or its political subdivisions in their capacity as public persons. Public things that belong to the state are such as running waters, the waters and bottoms of natural navigable water bodies, the territorial sea, and the seashore. Public things that may belong to political subdivisions of the state are such as streets and public squares.

Art. 451. Seashore. Seashore is the space of land over which the waters of the sea spread in the highest tide during the winter season.

Art. 452. Public things and common things subject to public use. Public things and common things are subject to public use in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Everyone has the right to fish in the rivers, ports, roadsteads, and harbors, and the right to land on the seashore, to fish, to shelter himself, to moor ships, to dry nets, and the like, provided that he does not cause injury to the property of adjoining owners. The seashore within the limits of a municipality is subject to its police power, and the public use is governed by municipal ordinances and regulations.

Art. 453. Private things. Private things are owned by individuals, other private persons, and by the state or its political subdivisions in their capacity as private persons.

Art. 454. Freedom of disposition by private persons. Owners of private things may freely dispose of them under modifications established by law.

Art. 455. Private things subject to public use. Private things may be subject to public use in accordance with law or by dedication.

Art. 456. Banks of navigable rivers or streams. The banks of navigable rivers or streams are private things that are subject to public use. The bank of a navigable river or stream is the land lying between the ordinary low and the ordinary high stage of the water. Nevertheless, when there is a levee in proximity to the water, established according to law, the levee shall form the bank.

Art. 457. Roads; public or private. A road may be either public or private. A public road is one that is subject to public use. The public may own the land on which the road is built or merely have the right to use it. A private road is one that is not subject to public use.

Art. 458. Works obstructing the public use. Works built without lawful permit on public things, including the sea, the seashore, and the bottom of natural navigable waters, or on the banks of navigable rivers, that obstruct the public use may be removed at the expense of the persons who built or own them at the instance of the public authorities, or of any person residing in the state. The owner of the works may not prevent their removal by alleging prescription or possession.

Art. 459. Building encroaching on public way. A building that merely encroaches on a public way without preventing its use, and which cannot be removed without causing substantial damage to its owner, shall be permitted to remain. If it is demolished from any cause, the owner shall be bound to restore to the public the part of the way upon which the building stood.

The Office of Notary Public in Louisiana – Penalties for the unlawful practice of law

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The Office of Notary Public in Louisiana – Penalties for the unlawful practice of law

§213. Persons, professional associations, professional corporations, and limited liability companies entitled to practice law; penalty for unlawful practice. A. No natural person, who has not first been duly and regularly licensed and admitted to practice law by the supreme court of this state, no corporation or voluntary association except a professional law corporation organized pursuant to Chapter 8 of Title 12 of the Revised Statutes, and no partnership or limited liability company except one formed for the practice of law and composed of such natural persons, corporations, voluntary associations, or limited liability companies, all of whom are duly and regularly licensed and admitted to the practice of law, shall:

(1) Practice law.

(2) Furnish attorneys or counsel or an attorney and counsel to render legal services.

(3) Hold himself or itself out to the public as being entitled to practice law.

(4) Render or furnish legal services or advice.

(5) Assume to be an attorney at law or counselor at law.

(6) Assume, use, or advertise the title of lawyer, attorney, counselor, advocate or equivalent terms in any language, or any phrase containing any of these titles in such manner as to convey the impression that he is a practitioner of law.

(7) In any manner advertise that he, either alone or together with any other person, has, owns, conducts, or maintains an office of any kind for the practice of law.

B. This Section does not prevent any corporation or voluntary association formed for benevolent or charitable purposes and recognized by law from furnishing an attorney at law to give free assistance to persons without means.

C. Any natural person who violates any provision of this Section shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.

D. Any partnership, corporation, or voluntary association which violates this Section shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars. Every officer, trustee, director, agent, or employee of a corporation or voluntary association who, directly or indirectly, engages in any act violating any provision of this Section or assists the corporation or voluntary association in the performance of any such violation is subject to the penalties prescribed in this Section for violations by a natural person.