2.1.42 to 2.1.46

(32) However, as an usufruct can be created in slaves and other animals, we must understand that the usufruct in them can also be created, even in the provinces, by a surrender of this right in court. (33) But when we said that a usufruct could only be created by a surrender in court, this was not a rash statement, although it may be established by mancipation in such a way that in disposing of the property the usufruct of the same be reserved; for the usufruct itself is not sold but is reserved in the disposal of the property; and the result is that the usufruct is vested in one person and the ownership of the property in another. (34) Estates also are only susceptible of alienation by a surrender in court. (35) For if the party to whom an estate belongs as heir-at-law surrenders the same in court before it is entered upon, that is before any heir appears; the person to whom the surrender is made becomes the heir, just as if he himself had been called by law to the inheritance; but if he should surrender it after having incurred the obligation imposed by acceptance, he will, nevertheless, remain the heir, and for this reason will be responsible to the creditors. The debts will also be extinguished, and in this way the debtors of the estate will be benefited; and the corporeal property of the said estate will pass to him to whom the estate was surrendered, just as if separate portions of the same had been surrendered to him. (36) A testamentary heir, by the surrender of an estate in court to another before it has been accepted, performs an act which is void; but if he should surrender it after he has entered upon it, what we recently stated with reference to one to whom the estate legally belongs by law as the heir of a person dying intestate will apply, if he surrenders the estate in court after assuming the obligations entailed by the acceptance of the same.