A built a house on land belonging to B in the belief that the land was his

own. The error discovered, B formally notified A that he elected to

appropriate the house. All efforts to reach an agreement as to the sum
to be paid to A having failed, A began an action to recover the
expenditures incurred by him in building the house. The house was
destroyed in a fire of purely accidental origin. Do you think that
notwithstanding the loss of the house A would be entitled to recover
from B the said expenditures? Why?

A.- A would be entitled to recover the expenditures incurred by him in

building the house. The law provides that when something is built in
good faith upon the land of another, the latter shall have the option to
appropriate the same upon payment of the expenses to the builder, or
to require the builder to pay the price of the land on which said building
was constructed. In the exercise of this op¬tion, B elected to appropriate
the house. By so doing he incurred the obligation to pay the expenses to
A, which is an obligation which does not depend on the continued
existence of the house. It may be said that his exercise of the option
given by law made the house his own by ac¬cession. Res perit domino;
hence, he must bear the loss and pay the expenses.