Short answer. No, not directly. Article 1519 protects goods held by a bailee under a negotiable document of title: while in the bailee's possession, they cannot be attached by garnishment or levied on execution unless the document is first surrendered to the bailee or its negotiation is enjoined by a court. The document, in effect, stands for the goods.
What the law says
they cannot thereafter, while in possession of such bailee, be attached by garnishment or otherwise or be levied under an execution unless the document be first surrendered to the bailee or its negotiation enjoined.
Civil Code, Article 1519 — Goods Under a Negotiable Document Not Attachable. Read the full provision →
What the law says
The bailee shall in no case be compelled to deliver up the actual possession of the goods until the document is surrendered to him or impounded by the court.
Civil Code, Article 1519 — Goods Under a Negotiable Document Not Attachable. Read the full provision →
A negotiable document stands for the goods
When goods are placed with a bailee, such as a warehouseman or carrier, and a negotiable document of title is issued for them, the document comes to represent the goods themselves. Whoever holds and can negotiate the document controls the goods. This is what makes such documents useful in commerce, since ownership and the right to the goods can change hands by transferring the paper. Article 1519 protects this system by limiting how a creditor of the person who deposited the goods can reach them while the negotiable document is outstanding.
The protection against attachment and levy
The core rule is that the goods cannot be seized behind the document's back. Article 1519 provides that they cannot thereafter, while in possession of such bailee, be attached by garnishment or otherwise or be levied under an execution unless the document be first surrendered to the bailee or its negotiation enjoined. A creditor cannot simply garnish or levy on goods sitting in the warehouse if a negotiable document for them is circulating, because doing so would defeat the rights of whoever holds that document, perhaps a good-faith purchaser who bought it for value.
How a creditor can properly reach the goods
The article does not make the goods untouchable; it channels the creditor to the right target, the document. To reach the goods, the creditor must have the document surrendered to the bailee or obtain a court order enjoining its negotiation. In effect, the law says: deal with the paper first. Only once the document is out of circulation, surrendered or its transfer judicially blocked, can the goods themselves be attached or levied without prejudicing an innocent holder. This protects the integrity of the document as a symbol of the goods.
The bailee's position
Article 1519 also shields the bailee. It states that the bailee shall in no case be compelled to deliver up the actual possession of the goods until the document is surrendered to him or impounded by the court. The warehouseman or carrier cannot be forced to hand over the goods to a levying officer while the negotiable document remains outstanding and unsurrendered. This protects the bailee from double liability, delivering to a sheriff and then being sued by a document holder, and reinforces that the document must be dealt with before the goods can change hands.