Opinion of the Court. weeds, or if nothing extraordinary happens, si vero nihil extra consuetudinem acciderit, it is the loss of the tenant, damnum coloni esse. Dig. 19, 2, 15, 1, 2. So Domat says: "If the tenant is expelled by the act of the sovereign, by vis major, or by some other accident, or if the property is destroyed by an inundation, by an earthquake, or other event, the lessor, who was bound to give the property, cannot demand the rent, and will be bound to restore so much of it as he has received, but without any other damages; for no one ought to answer for accidents." Droit Civil, pt. 1, lib. 1, tit. 4, sect. 3, no. 3.1 Pothier brings out the same principles more fully, as applicable to cases resembling the case at bar, saying: "When the thing leased, which the lessor offers to deliver to the lessee, is found not to be entire, the lessor having lost a part of it since the contract, or when it is not in the same condition in which it was at the time of the contract; when what is wanting in the thing, or when the change that has happened in the thing, is such that the lessee would not have been willing to hire this thing, if it had been such as it has since become; in that case, the lessee has the right to refuse to receive the thing, and to demand the annulment of the contract. This takes place, even if it is by a vis major occurring since the contract, that the thing is no longer entire, or is destroyed; as, for example, if, since the contract, lightning has burned a considerable part of the house that you have leased to me, and the rest is not sufficient for me to dwell in with my family; or, if a field, that you have leased to me, has been inundated by an overflow of a river, which has left a hurtful deposit that has spoiled the grass; but in this case I can only demand the annulment of the bargain, without being able to claim any damages for its non-execution."2 Contrat de Louage, no. 74. 1"3. Si le preneur est expulsé par le fait du prince, par une force majeure, ou par quelque autre cas fortuit, ou si l'héritage périt par un débordement, par un tremblement de terre, ou autre événement, le bailleur, qui était tenu de donner le fonds, ne pourra prétendre le prix du bail, et serà tenu de rendre ce qu'il en avait reçu, mais sans aucun autre dédommagement; car personne ne doit répondre des cas fortuits." 274. Lorsque la chose louée, que le locateur offre de délivrer au conducteur, ne se trouve pas entière, le locateur en ayant perdu une partie depuis le Opinion of the Court. Again; after laying down the general principles that "the tenant, lessee or farmer ought to have an abatement of the whole rent, when the lessor has not been able to procure him. the enjoyment or the use of the thing leased;" and that "when the tenant has not been absolutely deprived of the enjoyment of the thing, but by an unforeseen accident his enjoyment has suffered a change and a very considerable diminution, he can demand a proportionate diminution in the rent, during the time that his enjoyment has suffered that diminution;" he says that, according to these principles, "when by vis major a farmer has been deprived of the power of gathering the fruits of one of the years of his lease; as if an enemy has ravaged all the standing corn on the land leased, or all the fruits yet ungathered have been destroyed by an overflow of a river, or by a swarm of locusts, or by any like accident; in all these cases, the farmer ought to have an abatement of the year's rent;" but that "the accident, which has caused a considerable loss of the fruits, must be an extraordinary accident, and not one of those ordinary and frequent accidents which a farmer ought to expect. For example, the tenant of a vineyard cannot demand an abatement of his rent for the loss caused by frost, blight or hail, unless it was an extraordinary frost or hail storm that caused the total loss of the fruits." 1 contrat, ou lorsqu'elle ne se trouve pas au même état qu'elle était lors du contrat; quand ce qui manque de la chose, ou quand le changement, qui est arrivé dans la chose, est tel que le conducteur n'eût pas voulu prendre cette chose à loyer, si elle se fût trouvée telle qu'elle est devenue depuis; en ce cas, le conducteur est bien fondé à refuser de recevoir la chose, et à demander la résolution du contrat. Cela a lieu, quand même ce serait par une force majeure survenue depuis le contrat, que la chose ne se trouverait plus entière, ou se trouverait détruite; comme, par exemple, si, depuis le contrat, le feu du ciel avait brûlé une partie considérable de la maison que vous m'aviez louée, et que ce qui en reste ne fût pas suffisant pour m'y loger avec ma famille; ou si une prairie, que vous m'aviez louée, avait été inondée par un débordement de rivière, lequel y a laissé un mauvais limon qui en a gâté l'herbe; mais, dans ce cas, je ne pourrais demander que la résolution du marché, sans pouvoir prétendre aucuns dommages et intérêts pour son inexécution." 1 "PREMIER PRINCIPE. Le conducteur, locataire ou fermier, doit avoir la remise du loyer pour le tout, lorsque le locateur n'a pu lui procurer la jouissance ou l'usage de la chose louée." Opinion of the Court. Contrat de Louage, nos. 139-163. See also nos. 300, 477; Introduction aux Coutumes d'Orléans, tit. 19, nos. 17-22. The Civil Code of Louisiana affirms the same general principles. A lease is defined to be a contract by which "one party gives to the other the enjoyment of a thing" at a fixed price. Art. 2669 (2639). "He who grants a lease is called the owner or lessor. He to whom the lease is made is called the lessee or tenant." Art. 2677 (2647). "The lessor is bound, from the very nature of the contract, and without any clause to that effect: 1. To deliver the thing leased to the lessee. 2. To maintain the thing in a condition such as to serve for the use for which it is hired. 3. To cause the lessee to be in peaceable possession of the thing during the continuance of the lease." Art. 2692 (2662). "The lessor is bound to deliver the thing in good condition and free from any repairs. He ought to make, during the continuance of the lease, all the repairs which may accidentally become necessary, except those which the tenant is bound to make, as hereafter directed." Art. 2693 (2663). "The lessor guarantees the lessee against all the vices and defects of the thing which may prevent its being used," even if unknown to the lessor at the time of making the lease, or arising since, if they do not arise from the fault of the lessee; and to indemnify him for any loss result "SIXIÈME PRINCIPE. Lorsque le conducteur n'a pas été privé absolument de la jouissance de la chose, mais que, par un accident imprévu, sa jouissance a souffert une altération et une diminution très considérable, il peut demander une diminution proportionnée dans le loyer, depuis le temps que sa jouissance a souffert cette diminution." “153. Suivant les principes proposés au paragraphe premier, lorsqu'un fermier a été, par une force majeure, privé de pouvoir recueillir les fruits de quelqu'une des années de son bail; putà, si un parti ennemi a fourragé tous les blés encore en herbe de la terre qu'il tient à ferme, ou si tous les fruits, qui étaient encore sur pied, ont péri par une inondation de rivière, par un essaim de sauterelles, ou par quelque accident semblable; en tous ces cas, le fermier doit avoir remise de l'année de ferme." "163. Il faut que l'accident, qui a causé une perte considérable des fruits, soit un accident extraordinaire, et non pas de ces accidents ordinaires et fréquens auxquels un fermier doit s'attendre. Par exemple, le fermier d'une vigne ne doit pas demander une remise de sa ferme pour la perte qu'a causée la gelée, la coulure ou la grêle, à moins que ce ne fût une gelée ou une grêle extraordinaire qui eût causé la perte totale des fruits." Opinion of the Court. ing from them. Art. 2695 (2665). "The lessee is bound: 1. To enjoy the thing leased as a good administrator, according to the use for which it was intended by the lease. 2. To pay the rent at the terms agreed on." Art. 2710 (2680). The repairs which the tenant is bound to make are mere petty repairs inside a house, and repairs of windows, including "replacing window glass, when broken accidentally, but not when broken, either in whole or in their greatest part, by a hail storm or by any other inevitable accident." Art. 2716 (2686). "The expenses of the repairs which unforeseen events or decay may render necessary must be supported by the lessor, though such repairs be of the nature of those which are usually done by the lessee." Art. 2717 (2687). "The lessee is only liable for the injuries and losses sustained through his own fault." Art. 2721 (2691). And the lease "is dissolved by the loss of the thing leased." Art. 2728 (2699). The above articles of the Codes of 1825 and 1870, with only verbal differences, and in the same order, are all to be found in the Louisiana Code of 1808,1 and all of them, (except that which designates the parties, and the two last above quoted, which are but repetitions or corollaries of the others,) in the Code Napoleon;2 and the books, titles and chapters, under which the various matters are arranged in the Code of 1808, correspond for the most part to those of the Code Napoleon of 1807, or Code Civil des Français of 1804, and still more closely to those of the projet or commissioners' report of that code, which had been published in 1801. 2 Discussions du Code Civil, 536, note. Chief Justice Martin states that in 1807, when the first Civil Code of Louisiana was reported to the territorial legislature by Moreau Lislet and Brown, no copy of the French Code had as yet reached New Orleans; "and the gentlemen availed themselves of the project of that work, the arrangement of which they adopted, and mutatis mutandis literally transcribed a considerable portion of it." 2 Martin's History of Louisiana, 291. The provisions of the laws of Spain, as they formerly existed in Louisiana, upon the 1 Louisiana Code of 1808, lib. 3, tit. 8, arts. 2, 6, 17-19, 26, 30, 31, 35, 40. 2 Code Napoleon, arts. 1709, 1719-1721, 1728, 1754, 1755. Opinion of the Court. subject before us, were quite different in their details. Asso and Manuel's Institutes, lib. 2, tit. 14; 1 White's Land Laws, 201-204; 5 Partidas, tit. 8, 11. 1, 4–7, 18–24; Schmidt's Law of Spain and Mexico, 163-170. It is manifest, therefore, that the language of these provisions of the Louisiana Code was taken from the French Code. The Codes of 1825 and 1870 also contain the following article: “Art. 2697 (2667). If, during the lease, the thing be totally destroyed by an unforeseen event, or if it be taken for a purpose of public utility, the lease is at an end. If it be only destroyed in part, the lessee may either demand a diminution. of the price, or a revocation of the lease. In neither case has he any claim for damages.”1 This article was in a more condensed form in the Code of 1808, lib. 3, tit. 8, art. 20, namely: "If by any accident, the thing leased should be either totally or partly destroyed, the lessee may, according to the nature of the case, either claim a diminution of the rent or the cancelling of the lease, but he cannot claim to be indemnified." 2 As it now stands, it has been restored to the very words of the corresponding article 1722 of the Code Napoleon, except in omitting the words "according to circumstances," suivant les circonstances, as affecting the claim of the lessee in the case of partial destruction, which were in that article, as well as in the Code of 1808; and in inserting the words "or if it be taken for a purpose of public utility," which were not expressed in the Code Napoleon, but would doubtless be implied, for a taking of property for the public use was always deemed 1 Also in French, in the Code of 1825: "Si, pendant la durée du bail, la chose louée est détruite en totalité par cas fortuit, ou est prise pour un objet d'utilité publique, le bail est résilié de plein droit. Si elle n'est détruite qu'en partie, le preneur a le choix de demander une diminution de prix, ou la résiliation du bail. Dans l'un et l'autre cas, il n'y a lieu à aucun dédommagement." 2 And in French: "Si, pendant la dureé du bail, la chose louée est détruite, en tout ou en partie, par cas fortuit, le preneur peut, suivant les circonstances, demander, ou une diminution du prix, ou la résiliation da bail; mais sans aucun autre dédommagement." |