![handle is hein.journals/tulr92 and id is 147 raw text is:
Divining the Real Nature of Real Obligations
L. David Cromwell* and Chlo6 M. Chetta**
A real obligation, according to the present Louisiana Civil Code, is a duty correlative
and incidental to a real right.' So defined, it has been described as the 'flip side of a real
right.2 A real obligation is akin to the debit that balances an accountant's credit. It is the
reflection of a real right viewed from the perspective of the person whose estate is burdened by
the real right. To a large extent, real obligations are the passive side ofreal rights,3 though this
characterization is incomplete because real obligations can take the form of affirmative duties.
A real obligation is whatever the owner ofan estate burdened with the real right is obligated to
suffer to do, or to refrain from doing in consequence ofa real right burdening his estate.
This Article seeks to explore the real nature of real obligations: the extent to which they
become binding on successor owners of the thing out of which the real obligations arise, as
well as the transferability of the rights of the holder of a real obligation to other persons. It
also examines the scope of affirmative duties that can be the subject of real obligations, the
liberative effect of the real obligor's abandonment or alienation of the thing, and the difficult
issue of whether a real obligation imports personal liability. Those in search of certain
answers may instead find in this Article more questions, for many issues arising from the
notion of real obligations have been largely undeveloped and are therefore without ready
resolution. Nevertheless, relying on discussions of real rights and real obligations in
traditional and modern French doctrine and their historical treatment in the Louisiana Civil
Code, prevailing law, and the writings of Professor A.N Yiannopoulos,4 this Article will
address the topic from a decidedly civilian perspective in the hope of provoking thought and
reflection on the many unresolved issues.
* Member, Louisiana Bar, and Vice President and Member of the Council of the
Louisiana State Law Institute, as well as Reporter of its Security Devices Committee and
Possessory Action Committee. Tulane University, J.D. (1983). The authors express
appreciation to Professors Nicholas A. Davrodos, Melissa T. Lonegrass, John A. Lovett,
Christopher K. Odinet, Ronald J. Scalise Jr., and Dian Tooley-Knoblett for their thoughtful
comments and suggestions.
** Member, Louisiana Bar, Junior Honorary Member of the Louisiana State Law
Institute (2016), and former research assistant to Professor A.N. Yiannopoulos. Tulane
University, J.D. (2015).
1. LA. CIV. CODE art. 1763 (2017).
2. Dane S. Ciolino, Moral Rights and Real Obligations: A Property-Law
Framework for the Protection ofAuthors'Moral Rights, 69 TUL. L. REv. 935, 968 (1995).
3. 2 AN. YIANNOPOULOS, LOUISIANA CIvIL LAW TREATISE: PROPERTY § 9:29 (5th
ed. 2015) [hereinafter YIANNOPOULOS, PROPERTY].
4. The authors, who represent students of different generations of the late Professor
A.N. Yiannopoulos-to whose memory this Article is dedicated-are immeasurably
indebted to him for his invaluable and boundless wisdom, knowledge, and experience, so
generously shared both in the classroom and through his prolific writings, many of which are
cited in this Article. Most of the ideas that this Article expresses can be attributed, either
directly or indirectly, to his works, except, of course, any that may be flawed, for which the
authors bear sole responsibility. To our teacher, we gratefully echo his words in tribute: airv
Apt4art6&tv! Ever to excel!
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