LAW REGULATING NEGOTIATIONS CONCERNING GOODS DEPOSITED IN BONDED WAREHOUSES

ARTICLE 1.　Magasins Généraux (bonded warehouses) established by virtue of the decree of the 21st May, 1848, and others which may be created in the future, are for the purpose of storing raw material, goods, and manufactures which merchants and traders may desire to deposit therein. Such warehouses are established and supervised by the Chambers of Commerce, or Government acting upon the advice of the Chambres Consultatives des Arts et Manufactures. They are subject to the superintendence of the Government. Receipts shall be delivered to depositors and shall contain their name, profession and domicile, the nature of the goods deposited, and details necessary to establish the identity and value thereof. ARTICLE 2.　To each receipt for goods shall be annexed, under the name of warrant, a pledge containing the same particulars as the receipt. ARTICLE 3.　Receipts and warrants shall be, together or separately, transferable by endorsement. ARTICLE 4.　Endorsement of a warrant without endorsement of the corresponding receipt, shall be equivalent to a pledge of the goods for the benefit of the endorsee. Endorsement of the receipt conveys to the transferee the right of disposing of the goods, with the liability on his part, when the warrant is not also transferred with the receipt, to pay any claims that may be secured by the warrant, or to allow the amount thereof to be paid out of the proceeds realised by the sale of the goods warehoused. ARTICLE 5.　Endorsement of the receipt and of the warrant, whether made together or separately, must be dated. The endorsement of the warrant separately from the receipt, must also specify the amount of capital and interest secured, the date of its maturity, and the name, profession, and domicile of the creditor. The first endorsee of the warrant must immediately have the endorsement recorded upon the registers of the warehouse, with the particulars accompanying the same. A note of such registration must be made upon the warrant. ARTICLE 6.　The endorsee of the receipt, though not the endorsee of the warrant, may pay the claim secured by the warrant even before its maturity. If the endorsee of the warrant is not known, or if, being known, he does not agree with the debtor as to the conditions upon which the discount shall be made, the amount due, together with interest until maturity, may be deposited with the managers of the warehouse, who will be responsible for the same. Such payment discharges the goods. ARTICLE 7.　In default of payment at maturity, the endorsee of the warrant, though not the endorsee of the receipt, may, eight days after protest, and without any judicial procedure, sell at public auction the lot of the goods in question, according to the forms and by the public officials indicated by the Law of the 28th May, 1858. In case the first subscriber of the warrant had reimbursed it, he can proceed to the sale of the goods, as described in the previous paragraph, against the bearer of the receipt eight days after maturity, and without notice. ARTICLE 8.　The holder of the warrant is paid his claim out of the price, directly and without legal formality, by privilege and preference to other creditors, without any other deduction than— 1. Indirect contributions, octroi duties, and douane payable upon the goods; 2. Expenses of sale, warehousing, and other acts for the preservation of the merchandise. If the bearer of the receipt does not present himself at the sale of the goods, the amount exceeding that which is due to the bearer of the warrant is paid to the manager of the Magasin-Général, as mentioned in Article 6. ARTICLE 9.　The bearer of the warrant has no recourse against the borrower or the endorsers until he has exercised his rights upon the goods, and in case of insufficiency. The periods fixed by Article 165 and following, of the Code of Commerce for the exercise of recourse against endorsers, are reckoned only from the day when the sale of the goods took place. The bearer of the warrant loses in that case his recourse against the endorsers if he has not proceeded to the sale within one month from the date of the protest. ARTICLE 10.　Bearers of receipts and of warrants have, upon the indemnity of insurance due in case of loss, the same rights and privileges as related to the merchandise insured. ARTICLE 11.　Public establishments of credit can receive warrants as negotiable paper though lacking of one of the signatures exacted by their statutes. ARTICLE 12.　A party who has lost a receipt or a warrant may demand and obtain, by a judge's order, by proving his right thereto and by giving security, a duplicate thereof in the case of a receipt, and payment of the secured claim in the case of a warrant. ARTICLE 13.　The receipts shall be stamped, and be liable to a fixed registration fee of one franc. The provisions of Title 1 of the Law of the 15th June, 1850, and those of Article 49, § 2, No. 6, of the Law of the 22nd Frimaire, year 7, are applicable to warrants endorsed separately from receipts. The endorsements of a warrant separate from a receipt, unstamped or not visé pour timbre, pursuant to law, cannot be transcribed or mentioned upon the registers of the warehouse, under penalty against the proprietor of the warehouse of a fine equal to the amount of duty to which the warrant is subject. The parties charged with the custody of the registers of the Magasins-Généraux are compelled to communicate them to the representatives of the enregistrement in the manner prescribed by Article 54 of the Law of the 22nd Frimaire, year 7, and subject to the penalties provided. ARTICLE 14.　A réglement d'Administration Publique shall prescribe the measures necessary to the execution of the present law. ARTICLE 15.　The Decree of the 21st March, 1848, and of the 26th March of the same year, are hereby repealed. The Decree of the 23rd and 26th August, 1848, so far as it is contrary to the present law, is also repealed.