If the assignment is made without knowledge of the debtor, he may oppose compensation for prior credits, and for subsequent ones, until he should have been informed of the assignment.

ART. 1199. Debts payable in different places may be compensated by an indemnity for the expenses of transportation or for the exchange at the place of payment.

ART. 1200. Compensation shall not be proper when any of the debts arise from a deposit, or from the obligations of the depositary or borrower.

Neither can it be set off to the creditor for support due by reason of a good consideration.

ART. 1201. When a person should have different debts, which may be compensated, the provisions relating to the imputation of payments shall be observed in the order of compensation.

ART. 1202. The effect of compensation is to extinguish both debts to the concurrent amount, even when the creditors and debtors have no knowledge thereof.

SECTION SIXTH.-Novation.

ART. 1203. Obligations may be modified—

1. By the change of their object or principal conditions.

2. By substituting the person of the debtor.

3. By subrogating a third person in the rights of the creditor. ART. 1204. In order that an obligation may be extinguished by another which substitutes it, it is necessary that it should be so expressly declared, or that the old and new be imcompatible in all points.

ART. 1205. Novation, consisting in the substitution of a debtor in the place of the original one, may be made without the knowledge of the latter, but not without the consent of the creditor.

ART. 1206. The insolvency of the new debtor, who may have been accepted by the creditor, shall not revive the action of the latter against the original debtor, unless said insolvency may have been prior, public, and known to the debtor when he transferred his debt.

ART. 1207. When the principal obligation is extinguished by reason of the novation, the accessory obligations shall only remain in force in so far as they benefit third persons who have not given their con

sent thereto.

ART. 1208. Novation is void if the original obligation is also so, unless the cause of nullity can be claimed by the debtor only, or the ratification gives validity to acts which were void in their origin.

ART. 1209. The subrogation of a third person in the rights of a creditor can not be presumed, except in the cases expressly mentioned in this code.

In other cases it shall be necessary to prove it clearly in order that it may be effective.

ART. 1210. Subrogation shall be presumed

1. When a creditor pays another preferred creditor.

2. When a third person, who is not interested in the obligation, pays with the express or implied approval of the debtor.

3. When the person who is interested in the fulfillment of the obligation pays, without prejudice to the effects of the confusion with regard to the share pertaining to him.

ART. 1211. A debtor may make the subrogation without the consent of the creditor when, in order to pay the debt, he may have borrowed money in a public instrument, stating his purpose and setting forth in the receipt the origin of the sum paid.

ART. 1212. Subrogation transfers to the subrogated the credit, with the corresponding rights, either against the debtor or against third persons, be they sureties or holders of mortgages.

ART. 1213. A creditor to whom a partial payment has been made may exercise his right with regard to the balance, with preference to the person subrogated in his place by virtue of the partial payment of the said credit.

CHAPTER FIFTH.-Proof of obligations.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

ART. 1214. Proof of obligations devolves upon the persons claiming their fulfillment, and that of their extinction upon those opposing it. ART. 1215. Proofs may be given by instruments, by confession, by the personal inspection of a judge, by experts, by witnesses, and by presumptions.

SECTION FIRST.-Public instruments.

ART. 1216. Public instruments are those authenticated by a notary or by a competent public official, with the formalities required by law. ART. 1217. Instruments in which a notary public takes part shall be governed by the notarial law.

ART. 1218. Public instruments are evidence, even against a third person, of the fact which gave rise to their execution and of the date of the latter.

They shall also be evidence against the contracting parties and their legal representatives with regard to the declarations the former may have made therein.

ART. 1219. Public instruments, made for the purpose of impairing a former instrument, between the same parties, shall be effective against third parties only when the contents of the former should have been entered in the proper public registry or in the margin of the original instrument, and in that of the transcript or copy, by virtue of which the third person may have acted.

ART. 1220. Copies of public instruments of which there is an original or protocol, contested by those they prejudice, shall have force of proof only when they have been duly collated.

Should there be any difference between the original and the copy the contents of the former shall govern.

ART. 1221. Should the original instrument, the protocol, and the original record have disappeared, the following shall constitute evidence:

1. First copies made by the public official who authenticated them. 2. Subsequent copies issued by virtue of a judicial mandate, after citing the persons interested.

3. Those which, without a judicial mandate, may have been taken in the presence of the persons interested and with their consent.

In the absence of the said copies, any other copies, thirty or more years old, shall be evidence, provided they have been taken from the

original by the official who authenticated them or by any other in charge of their custody.

Copies less than thirty years old, or which may be authenticated by a public official, in which the circumstances mentioned in the preceding paragraph do not concur, shall serve only as a basis of written evidence.

The force of proof of copies of a copy shall be weighed by the courts according to the circumstances.

ART. 1222. The entry in any public registry of an instrument which may have disappeared shall be weighed according to the rules established in the last two paragraphs of the preceding article.

ART. 1223. An instrument which is defective by reason of the incompetency of the notary or by reason of any other fault in its form shall be considered as a private instrument when signed by the parties who executed the same.

ART. 1224. An instrument acknowledging an agreement or contract proves nothing against the instrument containing the same if by excess or omission they disagree therewith, unless the novation of the former is expressly proven.

Private instruments.

ART. 1225. A private instrument legally acknowledged shall have, with regard to those who signed it and their legal representatives, the same force as a public instrument.

ART. 1226. A person against whom a written obligation, which appears signed by him, is set up in court is obliged to declare whether the signature is his or not.

The heirs or the legal representatives of the person obligated may limit themselves to state if they know whether the signature to the obligation is or is not that of their principal.

A refusal, without sufficient cause, to make the statement mentioned in the preceding paragraphs may be construed by the courts as an admission of the authenticity of the instrument.

ART. 1227. The date of a private instrument shall be considered, with regard to third persons, only from the date on which it may have been filed or entered in a public registry, from the death of any of those who signed it, or from the date on which it may have been delivered to a public official by virtue of his office.

ART. 1228. Entries, registries, and private papers shall be evidence against the person who has written them only in all that may appear clearly stated: but a person who wishes to make use thereof is bound to accept them also in the part prejudicial to him.

ART. 1229. A note written or signed by a creditor at the end, in the margin, or on the back of an instrument held by him constitutes evidence in all that may be favorable to the debtor.

The same shall be understood of a note written or signed by the creditor, on the back, in the margin, or at the foot of the duplicate of an instrument or receipt which the debtor may hold.

In either case the debtor who wishes to avail himself of what may be favorable to him shall have to abide by what is prejudicial.

ART. 1230. Private instruments executed for the purpose of changing the agreements made in a public instrument shall produce no effect against a third person.

SECTION SECOND.-Confession.

ART. 1231. Confession may be made either judicially or extrajudicially.

In either case it shall be an indispensable condition for the validity of the confession that it should relate to personal acts of the confessor and that he should have legal capacity to make it.

ART. 1232. Confession is evidence against the author.

Exception is made of the case in which compliance with the laws may be evaded by the same.

ART. 1233. The confession can not be partially used against him who makes it unless it should refer to different facts, or when a part of the confession is proven by other means, or when, in any particular, it should be contrary to nature or law.

ART. 1234. Confession loses its effectiveness only when it is proven that on making it an error of fact was committed.

ART. 1235. A judicial confession must be made under oath before a judge of competent jurisdiction, and when he who may be benefited by it has actual representation in the proceedings.

ART. 1236. When a judicial confession under decisory oath is requested, the party from whom it is demanded may ask that the oath be referred to the adverse party, and should the latter refuse to take it, it shall be considered that the person has confessed.

ART. 1237. A decisory oath can not be demanded on incriminating facts nor on questions with regard to which the parties can not compromise.

ART. 1238. A confession made under decisory oath, whether deferred or referred, constitutes a proof only in favor or against the parties who submitted to it and their heirs or legal representatives.

No proof with regard to the falsity of said oath shall be admitted. ART. 1239. Extrajudicial confession is considered as an act subject to the judgment of the courts, according to the rules established on evidence.

SECTION THIRD.—Personal inspection by the judge.

ART. 1240. Evidence by personal inspection by the judge shall only be effective in so far as it clearly permits the court to judge, by the external appearance of the thing inspected, of the fact which he desires to ascertain.

ART. 1241. The inspection made by a judge may be weighed in the sentence rendered by another judge, provided the former has set forth with perfect clearness in the proceedings the details and circumstances of the thing inspected.

SECTION FOURTH.-Expert evidence.

ART. 1242. This kind of evidence may only be made use of when, in order to weigh the facts, scientific, artistic, or practical knowledge is necessary or advisable.

ART. 1243. The value of this evidence and the form in which it is to be given are the subjects of the provisions of the law of civil procedure.

SECTION FIFTH.-Evidence of witnesses

ART. 1244. Evidence of witnesses shall be admissible in all cases in which it should not have been expressly forbidden.

ART. 1245. All persons, of either sex, who are not disqualified by natural incapacity or by the provisions of law, may be witnesses.

ART. 1246. The following are disqualified by natural incapacity: 1. Lunatics or insane persons.

2. The blind and deaf, in those things a knowledge of which depends upon sight and hearing.

3. Minors under 14 years of age.

ART. 1247. The following are disqualified by provision of law:

1. Those directly interested in the suit.

2. The ascendants in the suits of their descendants and the latter in those of the former.

3. The father-in-law or mother-in-law in the suits of the son-inlaw or daughter-in-law, and vice versa.

4. The husband in the suits of his wife and the wife in those of her husband.

5. Those who, by reason of their rank or profession, are bound to preserve secrecy in the matters relating to their profession or rank. 6. Those specially disqualified to be witnesses to certain instru

ments.

The provisions of Nos. 2, 3, and 4 are not applicable in suits in which it is intended to prove the birth or death of children, or any private family matter which it may not be possible to verify by other

means.

ART. 1248. The force of proof of depositions of witnesses shall be weighed by the courts in accordance with the provisions of the law of civil procedure, taking care to avoid that, by the simple coincidence of some depositions, unless their truthfulness be evident, the affairs may be finally decided in which instruments, private documents, or any basis of written evidence are usually made use of.

SECTION SIXTH.--Presumptions.

ART. 1249. Presumptions are not admissible, except when the fact from which they are to be deduced is fully proven.

ART. 1250. Presumptions established by law exempt those favored thereby from producing any further proof.

ART. 1251. Presumptions established by law may be destroyed by proof to the contrary, except in the cases in which it is expressly prohibited.

Only a judgment obtained in a suit for revision shall be effective against the presumption of the truth of the res adjudicata.

ART. 1252. In order that the presumption of the res adjudicata may be valid in another suit, it is necessary that, between the case decided by the sentence and that in which the same is invoked, there be the most perfect identity between the things, causes, and persons of the litigants, and their capacity as such.

In questions relating to the civil status of persons, and in those regarding the validity or nullity of testamentary provisions, the presumption of the res adjudicata shall be valid against third persons, even if they should not have litigated.