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1. The following are the duties which have arisen from the introduction of ownership in things:
(i) Every man is obliged to allow everyone (except an enemy) quietly to enjoy his own property, and neither by force nor fraud to attempt to spoil, steal or misappropriate it. This is why theft, robbery and similar crimes against others’ property are forbidden.
2. (2) When without crime or breach of good faith on our part another man's property comes into our hands, and we have it under our control, we are bound to do all we can to return it to the control of its legitimate owner. However, we are not bound to restore it at our own expense, and if we do spend anything on maintaining it, we may rightly recover our expense or keep the property until we are paid. The Obligation of restitution begins when we become clearly aware that the property belongs to someone else. At that time we should make it known that we have the thing in question and do nothing to hinder the owner in recovering what is his [suum], If, however, we have acquired something with good title, we are not obliged to cast doubt on the title ourselves, or make a kind of public announcement whether anyone wishes to claim it for himself. The duty of restitution takes precedence over particular contracts and is a ground for a counter-claim: for example, if a thief deposits stolen goods with me and the real owner subsequentiy turns up, they must be restored to the owner, not the thief.
3. (3) If in good faith we have acquired something of another's and consumed it, our duty is limited to restoring to the owner the amount by which we have been enriched, so that we do not gain from another's undeserved loss.
4. The following duties are derived from the above:
(i) A bona fide possessor is not obliged to make any restitution if the thing has perished, because he has neither the thing itself nor any gain from it.
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