=Trust.=--Duties of the _depositary_ and the _deponent_. =Of the possession in good faith.=--_The thing lost._ =Sales.=--Obligations of _seller_ and _buyer_. =Of property in general.=--Violation of property or _theft_.--The elements which constitute theft.--_Simple_ thefts and _qualified_ thefts.--_Abuse of confidence_, _swindling_.--Restitution. =Promises and contracts.=--Differences between these two facts.--Strict obligation to keep one's promises: rare exceptions (practical impossibility, illicit promises, etc.)--Different _kinds_ of contracts.--_Conditions_ of the contract: consent, capacity of contracting parties, a real object, a licit cause.--Rules for the formation of contracts.--Rules for the interpretation of contracts. The immediate consequence of the right of self-preservation which each has, etc., implies the _right of property_. =31. Property.=--What is property? What is its origin and principle? What objections has it raised? What moral and social reasons justify it, rendering its maintenance both sacred and necessary? "Property," says the civil code, "is the right to enjoy and dispose of things in the most absolute manner, provided no use is made of them prohibited by the laws or the rules." (Art. 544.) "The right of property," says the Constitution of '93, "is that which belongs to every citizen: to enjoy, and dispose at will of his property, his income, of the fruit of his labor and industry." (Art. 8.) These are the judicial and political definitions of property. Philosophically, it may be said, that it is the right each man has to make something _his own_, that is to say, to attribute to himself the _exclusive_ right to enjoy something outside of himself. We must distinguish between _possession_ and _property_. Possession is nothing else than _actual custody_: I may have in my hands an object that is not mine, which has either been loaned to me, or which I may have found; this does not make me its proprietor. Property is the right I have to exclude all others from the use of a thing, even if I should not be in actual possession of it. =32. Origin and fundamental principle of property.=--The first property is that of my own body, but thus far it is nothing else than what may be called corporeal liberty. How do we go beyond that? How do we extend this primitive right over things which are outside of ourselves? Let us first remark that this right of appropriating external things rests on necessity and on the laws of organized beings. It is evident, in fact, that life cannot be preserved otherwise than by a perpetual exchange between the parts of the living body and the particles of the surrounding bodies. Nutrition is _assimilation_, and, consequently, _appropriation_. It is, then, necessary that certain things of the external world should become _mine_, otherwise life is impossible. Property is then _necessary_; let us now see by what means it becomes legitimate.