(b) When one has culpably done or omitted something from which damage to another was foreseen, but has tried, though in vain, to prevent the damage after the cause was placed, restitution is due if the cause was physical (e.g., Claudius gave poison to Titus, and then moved by remorse gave an antidote, but Titus died), since the party who set the cause in operation is responsible; but if the cause was moral (e.g., Balbus ordered a gunman to beat up Caius, but withdrew the order, and the gunman on his own responsibility then assaulted Caius), restitution is not due when the revocation ends one’s influence upon the damage that ensues.
1770. Three Kinds of Unlawful Possessors.—The second root of restitution mentioned above (1762) is unjust possession, which includes the acceptance or the retention of another person’s goods against the latter’s will. There are three kinds of unlawful possessors:
(a) the possessor in good faith, who is one that has been invincibly ignorant of the unlawfulness of his possession, but now learns his error (e.g., a buyer who discovers that the horse he purchased did not belong to the seller but was stolen property);
(b) the possessor in doubtful faith, who is one that has serious reasons for fearing his possession is unlawful (e.g., the buyer of a horse learns that the seller is known to have sold some stolen property, or that the price he charged for the horse was remarkably small);
(c) the possessor in bad faith, who is one that knows his possession is unjust (e.g., a buyer who purchases a horse which he knew had been stolen by the seller).
1771. Obligations of the Possessor in Good Faith in Reference to the Property Itself.—(a) If the property is still in his keeping, he is generally obliged to return it to the owner, for a thing calls for its owner. An exception would be the case in which the possessor can not return the property to the owner without a greater loss to his own property.
(b) If the property has perished, the possessor is generally obliged or not to restitution according as he has been enriched or not by the property; for one person should not be enriched at the expense of another, but property perishes to its owner.
(c) If the property is in possession of a third party to whom the possessor transferred it, he is generally obliged or not to restitution to the third party, on the latter’s dispossession, according as he has been enriched or not by the third party’s goods; for if he received nothing for the goods, he is clearly bound to nothing, but if he received payment, he must indemnify the buyer who is evicted for lack of title.
1772. Obligations of the Possessor in Good Faith in Reference to the Fruits of the Property.—(a) He must restore the fruits of the thing itself that are in existence, for the thing fructifies to its owner. Hence, he should restore to the owner the natural fruits (e.g., the fruit on the owner’s trees) and the civil fruits (e.g., the money received from hire of the owner’s horse).
(b) He must restore the fruits of the thing itself which are not in existence, but from which he has been enriched (e.g., the net profit from last year’s crops which the possessor has in the bank).