Civil Code, Article 2172 — Reimbursement to a Possessor in Good Faith

What this article means

The right of a possessor in good faith to reimbursement for necessary and useful expenses is governed by Article 546 — a quasi-contractual obligation on the owner who recovers the thing.

Like Article 2171, this provision borrows its substantive rule from elsewhere in the Code rather than restating it, keeping the quasi-contract title focused on when an obligation arises rather than on every detail of what it requires. In general terms, a necessary expense is one spent to preserve the property itself, while a useful expense is one that adds value to it; both matter here because a possessor in good faith believed, mistakenly, that the property was rightfully his, and the law does not let the true owner recover it while ignoring what he spent on it.

Questions about this provision

• I made necessary repairs on a thing paid to me by mistake while I held it in good faith - can I be reimbursed?

Related provisions

• Article 2171 — Rights of a Finder of Lost Property.
• Article 2173 — Paying Another's Debt Without His Knowledge.

Cases interpreting this article

• Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.