Libro Quinto · Título II Capítulo II. Obligaciones alternativas

A person alternatively obligated to various performances satisfies the obligation by fully performing one of them. The creditor may not be compelled to receive part of one and part of another.

The election belongs to the debtor, unless expressly granted to the creditor.

The election may not fall upon performances that prove to be impossible, unlawful or that could not have been the object of the obligation.

The election shall produce effects only from the time it is notified.

The debtor shall lose the right of election when, of the performances to which he is alternatively obligated, only one is capable of being performed.

The creditor shall have the right to compensation for damage and losses when, through the fault of the debtor, all the things that were alternatively the object of the obligation have disappeared, or performance thereof has become impossible.

The compensation shall be fixed taking as a basis the value of the last thing that disappeared or that of the service that last became impossible.

When the election corresponds to the creditor, the obligation shall cease to be alternative from the day on which it has been notified to the debtor.

As long as the notification has not been made, the responsibilities of the debtor shall be governed by the following rules:

1°.If any of the things was lost without fault of the debtor, the debtor shall perform by delivering the one the creditor chooses from among the remaining ones or the one that remains if only one should subsist;

2°.If the loss of any of the things occurred through fault of the debtor, the creditor may claim any of those that subsist, or the price of the one that, through fault of the latter, had disappeared; and

3°.If all the things were lost through fault of the debtor, the election of the creditor shall fall upon their price.

The same rules shall apply to obligations to do or not to do, in the event that some or all of the performances should become impossible.

When the election must be made by several persons, the judge shall grant a time limit for them to reach agreement. If there is no agreement the majority shall decide, and if they do not make the election or there is no majority, the judge shall elect.

If the debtor fails to make the election, the judge shall set a time limit for him to make it, and if upon expiry of this time limit the debtor persists in the omission, the election shall belong to the creditor.