Section IV Deposit

Article 718

Deposit is a contract whereby one person agrees to take delivery from another person of a thing which he undertakes to keep in safe custody and return in kind.

1. The Obligations of the Depository

Article 719

The depository is bound to take delivery of the thing deposited.

He is not entitled to make use of the thing deposited without the express or implied authority of the depositor.


Article 720

When the deposit is gratuitous, the depository is bound to exercise, in the custody of the thing, the care which he employs in his own affairs, without, however, being bound to exercise a degree of diligence exceeding that of a reasonable person.

When the deposit is for remuneration, the depository must exercise in the custody of the thing deposited the diligence of a reasonable person.

Article 721

The depository may not, without the express authority of the depositor, appoint a substitute to take over the custody of the thing deposited, unless he is compelled to do so by reason of urgent and absolute necessity.

Article 722

The depository is bound to return the thing deposited as soon as he is required so to do by the depositor, unless it follows from the contract that the term of the deposit was fixed in the interests of the depository. The depository may, at any time, compel the depositor to take back the thing deposited, unless if follows from the contract that the term of the deposit was fixed in the interests of the depositor.

Article 723

When the heir of a depository sells the thing deposited in good faith, he is only liable to refund to the owner the price which he has received or to assign to the owner his rights against the purchaser. If the alienation was gratuitous, he is liable to pay the value of the thing deposited at the time of alienation.

2. The Obligations of the Depositor

Article 724

A deposit is deemed to be gratuitous. When, however, remuneration is stipulated, the depositor, in the absence of agreement to the contrary, is bound to pay such remuneration at the time the deposit ends.

Article 725

A depositor must repay the depository any expenses incurred for the preservation of the thing deposited and indemnify him against any loss he may incur as a result of the deposit.

3. Certain Kinds of Deposits

Article 726

When the object of the deposit is a sum of money or another thing of a consumable nature and the depository has been authorized to make use of it, the contract is deemed to be a contract of loan for consumption.

Article 727

Proprietors of hotels, inns or other similar establishments are responsible, in the performance of their obligation to keep safely the effects brought in by travelers and residents, even for the acts of casual frequenters of their establishments.

They are, however, liable, as regards sums of money, securities and articles of value, only up to a limit of L.E. 50, unless they have undertaken the safe custody of such things knowing their value, or unless they have refused, without just cause, to take them in their charge, or if the loss has been caused by their gross negligence or by the gross negligence of one of their staff.

Article 728

A traveler must, as soon as he has knowledge of the theft, loss of, or damage to the thing, inform the proprietor of the hotel or the innkeeper, under pain, in the case of unjustifiable delay, of forfeiture of his rights.

His right of action against the hotel proprietor or innkeeper is prescribed after six months from the date of his leaving the hotel or the inn.