Article 474Right of Accession

One who in good faith employs the material

of another in whole or in part in order to make a thing of

a different kind, shall appropriate the thing thus

transformed as his own, indemnifying the owner of the

material for its value.

If the material is more precious than the transformed

thing or is of more value, its owner may, at his option,

appropriate the new thing to himself, after first paying

indemnity for the value of the work, or demand

indemnity for the material.

If in the making of the thing bad faith intervened, the

owner of the material shall have the right to appropriate

the work to himself without paying anything to the

maker, or to demand of the latter that he indemnify him

for the value of the material and the damages he may

have suffered. However, the owner of the material cannot

appropriate the work in case the value of the latter, for

artistic or scientific reasons, is considerably more than

that of the material. (383a)