Leaving something in safekeeping: a deposit is presumed paid

They are Articles 1454 to 1460 of the Civil Code of 2020: what a deposit is, what the chapter does not apply to, when it stops being a deposit, whether it is paid for, who may deposit and to whom it is returned.

Whoever leaves a good in safekeeping and whoever receives it to keep, under a deposit contract governed by the Puerto Rico Civil Code. It does not apply to the bank deposit or to necessary deposits governed by special laws.

• The depositary binds itself to receive the good, keep it and return it with its fruits when the depositor asks for it.Verified against the official source
• The depositor may be any person who has possession of the good: ownership is not required.Verified against the official source
• The deposit is presumed onerous.Verified against the official source
• Restitution must be made to the depositor or to the third party in whose favour the deposit was made, without requiring them to prove ownership.Verified against the official source

• The record of who deposited and in whose favour, if the deposit was made for a third party: that decides to whom it is returned.
• The agreed price, if any: without it, Article 1458 refers to the usual tariffs and, failing those, to the court.

1. 1

   Step 1: What the depositary binds itself to do

   Article 1454: receive a good to keep it and return it with its fruits when the depositor asks for it. Returning the fruits is in the definition itself, not in a separate article.

2. 2

   Step 2: When it is returned: when you ask

   The same definition says it: when the depositor asks for it. The article does not condition the return on a term running out.

3. 3

   Step 3: This chapter does not govern the bank deposit

   Article 1455: its provisions are not applicable to the bank deposit. Nor to those necessary deposits governed by special laws. The Code excludes them without saying which regime does govern them; we did not read those statutes and none is named here.

4. 4

   Step 4: If you authorise use, it is no longer a deposit

   Article 1456: where the depositor authorises the depositary to use the good, the deposit becomes a commodatum or a loan, according to the circumstances. Authorising use changes the contract and with it both parties’ obligations.

5. 5

   Step 5: The Code does not say which of the two it becomes

   The article says "according to the circumstances" and leaves it there. It fixes no criterion for telling whether the contract became a commodatum or a loan, and this guide does not invent one.

6. 6

   Step 6: It is presumed to be paid for

   Article 1457: the deposit is presumed onerous. One line, and it decides a lot: if you want it free, that is what must be agreed, because the Code’s presumption runs the other way.

7. 7

   Step 7: And if nobody discussed a price

   Article 1458: where the price of the deposit has not been agreed, it is determined by the usual tariffs and, failing those, by the court. Two steps, and the second is judicial. The Code does not say what those usual tariffs are in any trade, and this guide names none.

8. 8

   Step 8: Ownership is not required to deposit

   Article 1459: the depositor may be any person who has possession of the good. Possession suffices.

9. 9

   Step 9: Nor to get it back

   Article 1460, second paragraph: at the moment of restitution, the depositary may not require the depositor, nor the third party in whose favour the deposit was made, to prove ownership of the thing deposited. It is a written prohibition, not a custom.

10. 10

    Step 10: To whom it is returned

    First paragraph of 1460: to the depositor or to the third party in whose favour the deposit was made. And the third party: where the deposit was made in their favour, they must consent to restitution to anyone else, including the depositor. That is, the one who deposited cannot take it back alone if the deposit was in another’s favour.

11. 11

    Step 11: What this section does not carry

    There is no amount or tariff, no statement of what the usual tariffs are in any trade, no period to ask for the good or to return it, and nothing on which regime governs the bank deposit or the necessary deposits left out. None of that is here.

The contract runs between depositor and depositary; the Code names no agency for this chapter. Article 1458 expressly refers to the court to fix the price absent agreement and usual tariffs: the forum is the Court of First Instance. The bank deposit and the necessary deposits governed by special laws fall outside this chapter, and the Code does not name those statutes.

• Assuming leaving something in safekeeping is free: Article 1457 presumes the deposit onerous.
• Not agreeing the price and being left to the usual tariffs or, failing those, to the court.
• Authorising use of the good and still believing there is a deposit: the contract becomes a commodatum or a loan.
• Accepting a demand to prove ownership to get the deposited thing back: Article 1460 forbids it.
• Forgetting that restitution includes the good’s fruits.
• Believing ownership is required to deposit: having possession suffices.
• Taking back on your own a deposit made in a third party’s favour without their consent.
• Applying this chapter to a bank account, which Article 1455 excludes.
• Applying it to a necessary deposit governed by a special statute, also excluded.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov