Usufructuary Lease Validity After Ownership Consolidation

A lessee, having entered into a lease agreement, subsequently acquired the bare ownership of the leased property while retaining the usufruct, which the lessor had previously held, and then sought to terminate the lease, arguing that the merger of the usufruct and bare ownership into a single ownership extinguished the leasehold right under the principle that the usufructuary cannot lease more rights than they possess. The court of cassation quashed the lower court's decision, reasoning that the lease, granted by the usufructuary prior to the consolidation of ownership, remained valid and enforceable against the new full owner because the acquisition of the bare ownership by the usufructuary did not automatically terminate the leasehold right established under the usufruct, as the lease created an obligation binding on the property itself, distinct from the temporary nature of the usufruct.