ART. 1275. The obligation is extinguished from the ART. 1284.

When one or both debts are rescissible or

time the characters of creditor and debtor are voidable, they may be compensated against each
merged in the same person. other before they are judicially rescinded or avoided.

ART. 1276. Merger which takes place in the person of ART. 1285. The debtor who has consented to the
the principal debtor or creditor benefits the assignment of rights made by a creditor in favor of a
guarantors. Confusion which takes place in the third person, cannot set up against the assignee the
person of any of the latter does not extinguish the compensation which would pertain to him against
obligation. the assignor, unless the assignor was notified by the
debtor at the time he gave his consent, that he
ART. 1277. Confusion does not extinguish a joint
reserved his right to the compensation.
obligation except as regards the share corresponding
If the creditor communicated the cession to
to the creditor or debtor in whom the two characters
him but the debtor did not consent thereto, the latter
concur.
may set up the compensation of debts previous to
ART. 1278. Compensation shall take place when two the cession, but not of subsequent ones.
persons, in their own right, are creditors and debtors If the assignment is made without the
of each other. knowledge of the debtor, he may set up the
compensation of all credits prior to the same and also
ART. 1279. In order that compensation may be later ones until he had knowledge of the assignment.
proper, it is necessary:
(1) That each one of the obligors be bound ART. 1286. Compensation takes place by operation of
principally, and that he be at the same time a law, even though the debts may be payable at
principal creditor of the other; different places, but there shall be an indemnity for
(2) That both debts consist in a sum of money, expenses of exchange or transportation to the place
or if the things due are consumable, they be of the of payment.
same kind, and also of the same quality if the latter
ART. 1287. Compensation shall not be proper when
has been stated;
one of the debts arises from a depositum or from the
(3) That the two debts be due;
obligations of a depositary or of a bailee in
(4) That they be liquidated and demandable;
commodatum. Neither can compensation be set up
(5) That over neither of them there be any
against a creditor who has a claim for support due by
retention or controversy, commenced by third
gratuitous title, without prejudice to the provisions of
persons and communicated in due time to the
paragraph 2 of Article 301.
debtor.
ART. 1288. Neither shall there be compensation if
ART. 1280. Notwithstanding the provisions of the
one of the debts consists in civil liability arising from a
preceding article, the guarantor may set up
penal offense.
compensation as regards what the creditor may owe
the principal debtor. ART. 1289. If a person should have against him
several debts which are susceptible of compensation,
ART. 1281. Compensation may be total or partial.
the rules on the application of payments shall apply
When the two debts are of the same amount, there is
to the order of the compensation.
a total compensation.
ART. 1290. When all the requisites mentioned in
ART. 1282. The parties may agree upon the
Article 1279 are present, compensation takes effect
compensation of debts which are not yet due.
by operation of law, and extinguishes both debts to
ART. 1283. If one of the parties to a suit over an the concurrent amount, even though the creditors
obligation has a claim for damages against the other, and debtors are not aware of the compensation.
the former may set it off by proving his right to said
damages and the amount thereof.
ART. 1291. Obligations may be modified by: former is not presumed, except in cases expressly
(1) Changing their object or principal conditions; mentioned in this Code; the latter must be clearly
(2) Substituting the person of the debtor; established in order that it may take effect.
(3) Subrogating a third person in the rights of
ART. 1301. Conventional subrogation of a third
the creditor.
person requires the consent of the original parties
ART. 1292. In order that an obligation may be and of the third person.
extinguished by another which substitutes the same,
ART. 1302. It is presumed that there is legal
it is imperative that it be so declared in unequivocal
subrogation:
terms, or that the old and the new obligations be on
(1) When a creditor pays another creditor who is
every point incompatible with each other.
preferred, even without the debtor’s knowledge;
ART. 1293. Novation which consists in substituting a (2) When a third person, not interested in the
new debtor in the place of the original one, may be obligation, pays with the express or tacit approval of
made even without the knowledge or against the will the debtor;
of the latter, but not without the consent of the (3) When, even without the knowledge of the
creditor. Payment by the new debtor gives him the debtor, a person interested in the fulfillment of the
rights mentioned in Articles 1236 and 1237. obligation pays, without prejudice to the effects of
confusion as to the latter’s share.
ART. 1294. If the substitution is without the
knowledge or against the will of the debtor, the new ART. 1303. Subrogation transfers to the person
debtor’s insolvency or non-fulfillment of the subrogated the credit with all the rights thereto
obligation shall not give rise to any liability on the appertaining, either against the debtor or against
part of the original debtor. (n) third persons, be they guarantors or possessors of
mortgages, subject to stipulation in a conventional
ART. 1295. The insolvency of the new debtor, who
subrogation.
has been proposed by the original debtor and
accepted by the creditor, shall not revive the action ART. 1304. A creditor, to whom partial payment has
of the latter against the original obligor, except when been made, may exercise his right for the remainder,
said insolvency was already existing and of public and he shall be preferred to the person who has been
knowledge, or known to the debtor, when he subrogated in his place in virtue of the partial
delegated his debt. payment of the same credit.

ART. 1296. When the principal obligation is

extinguished in consequence of a novation, accessory
obligations may subsist only insofar as they may
benefit third persons who did not give their consent.

ART. 1297. If the new obligation is void, the original

one shall subsist, unless the parties intended that the
former relation should be extinguished in any event.

ART. 1298. The novation is void if the original

obligation was void, except when annulment may be
claimed only by the debtor, or when ratification
validates acts which are voidable.

ART. 1299. If the original obligation was subject to a

suspensive or resolutory condition, the new
obligation shall be under the same condition, unless
it is otherwise stipulated.

ART. 1300. Subrogation of a third person in the rights

of the creditor is either legal or conventional. The