Short answer. Yes, but only in a free loan of a thing, and only for the specific acts of ingratitude the law lists. Ordinary rudeness, a falling-out or a refusal to keep in touch is not enough. The listed acts are serious ones, and the remedy is immediate return of the thing.
What the law says
The bailor may demand the immediate return of the thing if the bailee commits any act of ingratitude specified in article 765.
Civil Code, Article 1948 — Return for Ingratitude. Read the full provision →
What the law says
If the donee should commit some offense against the person, the honor or the property of the donor, or of his wife or children under his parental authority
Civil Code, Article 765 — Revocation For Ingratitude. Read the full provision →
Which loans this covers
The rule belongs to what the Code calls commodatum — a free loan of a thing, where you lend an item for someone to use and get the same item back, charging nothing. The lender is the bailor and the borrower the bailee. Because the arrangement is a favour rather than a bargain, the law lets the lender pull out if the borrower turns on him. That reasoning does not carry over to arrangements where the other side is paying. A tenant who is rude to a landlord, or a borrower of money who insults the person who lent it, cannot be stripped of what he paid for on the ground of ingratitude.
What counts as ingratitude
The article does not leave this to the lender's feelings. It borrows the closed list written for revoked donations in Art. 765: an offense against the person, honour or property of the lender or the lender's spouse or children under parental authority; imputing to the lender a criminal offense or an act of moral turpitude, even if the accusation turns out to be true, unless the crime was committed against the accuser himself, his wife or his children; and unduly refusing support to the lender when the borrower is legally or morally bound to give it. Anything outside those three situations, however hurtful, is not ingratitude in the legal sense.
What the lender can and cannot demand
The remedy is the return of the thing, immediately, even though the agreed period or the purpose of the loan has not run out. It is not a claim for damages and not a penalty on the borrower for bad behaviour. Neither is it self-help: the lender may demand, but if the borrower refuses to hand the item over, the lender has to go to court rather than take it back by force or by stealth. On the borrower's side, returning the thing ends the matter under this article. He does not owe rent for the period he used it, because there was never any charge to begin with.
If you are the borrower being asked to return it
Ask which of the listed acts is being alleged, and answer that rather than the general accusation of ingratitude. Most demands of this kind describe a soured friendship rather than an offense against person, honour or property. Keep in mind, though, that a free loan is fragile by nature and can end for other reasons that have nothing to do with ingratitude — the agreed period running out, the purpose being accomplished, or an urgent need arising on the lender's side. Whatever the ground, look after the thing and return it in the condition you received it, since you answer separately for damage caused by your own fault.
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 1948 — Return for Ingratitude
- Civil Code, Article 765 — Revocation For Ingratitude