france repossession
Did I lose possession of my goods?
<p>I live in France.</p>

<p>3 months ago, I was living with someone, in their flat, and I had to buy some piece of furniture (for about 700 euros).</p>

<p>About 2 months ago, I had to leave this place because we couldn't stand the other people presence any longer. At that time, as I had nowhere else to store the piece of furniture I bought, we agreed with this other person that I could leave them at his place, while I was seeking for a new place of my own.</p>

<p>Some week after this, I encountered this person again, and I have been asked if they could refund me the price of the furnitures spanning 2 years, regarding monthly payment, to which I agreed orally.</p>

<p>Fast forwarding today, I never received any money from this person, and last time I saw them, they told me I couldn't have my good back, because now they're theirs and that they won't refund me at all, neither give me my goods back.</p>

<p>Can I do something about it, or did I really lose property on the goods ?</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Did I lose possession of my goods?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>That seems unlikely. But enforcing it sounds complicated, at least from the standpoint of substantive law (the <a href="https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCode.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006070721" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Code civil</em></a>). I am not knowledgeable of French procedural law. The difficulty begins with identifying whether your claim is cognizable as <em>unjust enrichment</em>, or --per your subsequent oral agreement-- <em>breach of contract</em>.</p>

<p>You might want to read sections "<em>The French Law of Unjust Enrichment</em>" and "<em>Enrichissement sans Cause</em>" in <a href="https://lawexplores.com/6-public-body-unjust-enrichment-claims-in-france-lessons-for-england-and-wales/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this post</a>. Please note that the French Civil Code recently underwent significant reforms, whence references of its articles are likely outdated. Here I pointed out <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/39130/if-a-contract-sometimes-uses-the-wrong-name-is-it-still-valid/39132#comment71978_39178">one example of statutory renumbering</a> in the Code.</p>

<p>In the second link, you will read that</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>originally [...] the action in <em>enrichissement sans cause</em> would not
  be available to the claimant if he or she had any other cause of
  action, even if that cause of action was blocked for some reason.
  [...] [B]ut it is perhaps here that the law has relaxed most in recent
  cases.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Thus, the subtleties of your matter can be decisive for identifying the type of claim that is applicable to your situation.</p>

<p>Lastly, according to <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&amp;httpsredir=1&amp;article=1010&amp;context=stu_llm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this treatise</a> (on p.54), "<em>[t]he French legal system does not have the principle of [reasonable] reliance as it exists in the American legal system</em>" (brackets added). That makes it easier for a plaintiff to prove his claims under French law.</p>
