Short answer. Possibly, if the pieces were bought as a set you would not have purchased separately. Article 1573 extends the redhibition rule for defective animals sold together to the sale of other things. A defect in one piece generally only lets you return that piece, unless the set was meant to be bought as a whole.
What the law says
The provisions of the preceding article with respect to the sale of animals shall in like manner be applicable to the sale of other things.
Civil Code, Article 1573 — Rule Extended to Other Things. Read the full provision →
The animal-sale rule is borrowed for other goods
Article 1573 is a short but important bridge provision. It states that the provisions of the preceding article with respect to the sale of animals shall in like manner be applicable to the sale of other things. Article 1572 addresses what happens when two or more animals are sold together and one has a hidden defect: as a general rule, the defect in one only lets you return that one, not the healthy ones bought alongside it. Article 1573 takes that same principle and extends it to ordinary goods, not just animals.
The general rule: return only the defective piece
Under the borrowed rule, if a matched set is made up of separable items, and one of them has a hidden defect, the default outcome is that you can return the defective piece alone rather than the whole set, even if all the pieces were bought together for one price or for separate prices. The law starts from the assumption that each item can stand on its own, so a flaw in one does not automatically taint your right to keep the rest.
The exception for a true matched set
Article 1572, which Article 1573 imports, recognizes an important exception: if it appears you would not have bought the sound items without the defective one, the whole group is treated as a single unit for purposes of the defect, and you may return all of it. That exception is presumed, under Article 1572, when the items form a team, yoke pair, or set, even if a separate price was fixed for each piece. A matched set bought specifically to function or look right as a whole fits this description closely.
What this means for your matched set
Whether you can return the entire set turns on whether the pieces were genuinely bought as an inseparable whole, or whether they were simply several individual items purchased at the same time that happen to match. If you can show you would not have bought the other pieces without the defective one, for instance because they were sold and intended specifically as a matching set, you have a stronger basis to return everything rather than just the flawed piece.
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 1573 — Rule Extended to Other Things
- Civil Code, Article 1572 — Redhibitory Defect When Several Animals Are Sold