What can be performed in parts and what cannot

It is Section Four of Chapter II of Title I of Book Four of the Civil Code of 2020, Articles 1108 to 1113, closing the chapter on the classes of obligations. It says when a performance may be carried out in pieces and what that means where there are several parties.

Any obligation with several creditors or several debtors that is not solidary. With a single debtor and a single creditor, Article 1108 leaves the general rules untouched.

• That the performance can be effected in parts which, without loss of value, have the same quality as the whole: the two conditions in Article 1110.Verified against the official source
• That the obligation not be solidary: Article 1112 splits by parts only where it is not.Verified against the official source
• That nothing to the contrary follows from the law, the obligation or the circumstances of the case: the proviso in Article 1111.Verified against the official source

• The document of the obligation, because whether the performance is understood divided follows from it and from the circumstances.

1. 1

   Step 1: First: this only matters where there are several

   Article 1108 bounds the section: the divisibility or indivisibility of the performances in obligations with a single debtor and a single creditor neither alters nor modifies the precepts of Titles One and Two of this Book. With only two parties, the general rules go on governing just the same.

2. 2

   Step 2: What is deemed indivisible from the start

   Article 1109 says it: obligations to give determinate things and all those not susceptible of partial performance are deemed indivisible. No agreement is needed; the nature of what is owed decides.

3. 3

   Step 3: When doing can be split

   The same Article 1109 gives the examples: the obligation to do is divisible if its object is a number of days of work, the execution of works by metric units or other analogous activities which, by their nature, admit partial performance. And for not-doing it gives no list: divisibility is decided by the character of the performance in each case.

4. 4

   Step 4: The test of divisibility

   Article 1110 sets two conditions at once: the obligation is divisible if the performance can be effected in parts which, without loss of value, have the same quality as the whole. Being cuttable is not enough; the pieces must be worth and be the same.

5. 5

   Step 5: How it is split where it is divisible

   Article 1111 sets the general rule: the performance is understood divided into as many equal parts as there are creditors or debtors, and they are deemed distinct and independent credits or debts. With a proviso that must always be read: unless the contrary follows from the law, the obligation or the circumstances of the case.

6. 6

   Step 6: And what each party may demand

   Article 1112 lands it: where there are several creditors or debtors of a divisible performance, and the obligation is not solidary, each creditor may ask only for satisfaction of the part of the credit corresponding to them, and each debtor must pay only their part of the debt. And it closes with the sentence that separates this from solidarity: the default of one debtor does not oblige the others to perform for them.

7. 7

   Step 7: The indivisible, and where it comes from

   Article 1113 closes the section: the obligation is indivisible if the performance cannot be executed in parts. And it names the three sources: obligations may be indivisible by their nature, by mandate of law, or by the will of the persons. The third is the one that is agreed.

These rules operate between the parties to the obligation; failing agreement on whether the performance can be split, the Court of First Instance decides. The Code names no agency here.

• Applying this section to an obligation between two people: with a single debtor and a single creditor it changes nothing.
• Confusing indivisible with solidary: they are different regimes, and Article 1112 applies only where the obligation is not solidary.
• Believing it is enough that the thing can be cut: the parts must have, without loss of value, the same quality as the whole.
• Treating the delivery of a determinate thing as divisible: Article 1109 deems it indivisible.
• Splitting into unequal parts with no basis: the general rule divides them into equal parts.
• Forgetting the proviso in Article 1111: the law, the obligation or the circumstances may say otherwise.
• Demanding that a co-debtor cover the one who defaulted: in a divisible obligation their default does not oblige the others.
• Assuming indivisibility comes only from nature: it may also come from the law or the will of the persons.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov