A "repair" is done identically

The Court of Cassation did not admit in this case that an old stone wall, wrongly destroyed by a neighbor, could have been rebuilt by the latter with modern materials.

This is the principle of full compensation for damage provided for by the Civil Code, she specifies.

The magistrates did not consider it sufficient that the destroyed wall should only be replaced by another, contrary to what the author of the destruction and repair argued.

It is not only necessary to take into consideration the practical function of the wall to say that one wall is worth another, they estimated, it is also necessary to take into account the old aspect, the aesthetic interest, that the construction had. .

If a cinder block or "agglomerated" wall can perform the same service as the old stone wall which separated the properties or supported the land, if it does not present a risk of collapse either, its vision causes damage. to its owners, insofar as they previously had before them an old stone building.

Whoever illegally destroyed it must therefore rebuild it identically because the principle of full reparation "requires the parts to be returned to the state they were in before the damage occurred", concludes the Court.

(Cass. Civ 3, 28.3.2019, D 17-29.005).