Book III: Different ways of acquiring property

A sale is an agreement by which one party undertakes to deliver a thing, and the other to pay for it. It may be made by deed or by private agreement.

It is perfected between the parties, and ownership is acquired by operation of law by the buyer as against the seller, as soon as the thing and the price have been agreed, even though the thing has not yet been delivered or the price paid.

The sale may be made purely and simply, or under a condition either suspensive or resolutory. It may also have as its object two or more alternative things. In all these cases, its effect is regulated by the general principles of conventions.

Where goods are not sold en bloc, but by weight, count or measure, the sale is not perfected, in the sense that the things sold are at the seller’s risk until they are weighed, counted or measured; but the buyer may demand either their delivery or damages, if any, in the event of non-performance of the undertaking.

If, on the other hand, the goods have been sold en bloc, the sale is perfect, although the goods have not yet been weighed, counted or measured.

With regard to wine, oil, and other things that it is customary to taste before making a purchase, there is no sale until the buyer has tasted and approved them.

A sale made on a trial basis is always presumed to be made under a suspensive condition.

A promise of sale is equivalent to a sale when there is mutual consent by both parties to the property and the price. If this promise applies to land already subdivided or to be subdivided, its acceptance and the resulting agreement will be established by the payment of a deposit on the price, whatever name is given to this deposit, and by the taking of possession of the land. The…

Any unilateral commitment entered into with a view to the acquisition of a property or a real estate right for which a payment is required or received from the person making the commitment, regardless of the cause or form of the payment, is null and void. .

Any unilateral promise of sale relating to an immovable, an immovable right, a business, a right to a lease relating to all or part of an immovable or to the securities of the companies referred to in Articles 728 and 1655 ter of the General Tax Code, if it is not recorded in a notarial deed or in a private deed registered within ten days of the date of its…