Note 388 — Book X.

Commodatum. (Justin. Inst. 3. 15. 2.) A Commodatum differed from a mutuum, because the same person continued to be the owner, and because the same thing was to be returned, and not another of the same quantity or quality, as in a mutuum. (Dig. 13. 6. 8. and 9.) “They have different names in Latin, though not in English,” says Dr. Wood. (Civil Law. Inst.) To avoid the inconvenience and confusion of employing the same term for each, the Translator has called the one a loan, the other a borrowing. The distinction between a gratuitous loan for use, and a simple loan, occurs in the Code Napoleon, which is drawn, as, indeed, may be observed of no small portion of that work, from the Civil Law.