Short answer. No. Under the Civil Code, a bailee holding goods under a negotiable document of title can never be compelled to give up actual possession of the goods until the document is surrendered to the bailee or impounded by the court — this protection applies in no case.
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 →
Why the negotiable document controls possession
Article 1519 protects a warehouseman, or any bailee, who holds goods for which a negotiable document of title has been issued. Because a negotiable document can pass from hand to hand and represents the right to the goods themselves, the law treats the document, not just the underlying goods, as the thing that has to be dealt with before the bailee's possession can be disturbed. This protects the bailee from being caught between competing claims to the goods and claims to the paper that represents them.
Goods under a negotiable document resist attachment
The article goes further than just protecting the bailee's possession — it says the goods themselves generally cannot be attached by garnishment, otherwise attached, or levied under execution while in the bailee's possession, unless the document is first surrendered to the bailee or its negotiation is enjoined. This follows the same logic: creditors of the person who owns or controls the goods cannot reach them through the bailee without first dealing with the document that stands for them.
The absolute rule on actual delivery
The second sentence of Article 1519 is written without qualification: the bailee shall in no case be compelled to deliver up actual possession of the goods until the document is surrendered to him or impounded by the court. This means even a court, faced with a genuine dispute over the goods, has only two ways to get actual possession released from the bailee — the document itself must come back to the bailee, or the court must impound it. A court order that skips both of those routes does not override this protection.
What this means for a warehouseman in this position
If you are holding goods under a negotiable receipt and someone — even someone with a court order in hand — has not surrendered that receipt to you or had it impounded by the court, Article 1519 gives you a basis to resist a demand for actual delivery of the goods. The protection exists precisely because the document, not a bare instruction, is what the law treats as controlling who is entitled to take physical possession from the bailee.