Short answer. Article 1231 lists six modes: payment or performance, loss of the thing due, condonation or remission of the debt, confusion or merger of the rights of creditor and debtor, compensation, and novation. It also flags other causes — annulment, rescission, fulfillment of a resolutory condition, and prescription — governed elsewhere in the Code.

What the law says

Obligations are extinguished: (1) By payment or performance; (2) By the loss of the thing due; (3) By the condonation or remission of the debt; (4) By the confusion or merger of the rights of creditor and debtor; (5) By compensation; (6) By novation.

Civil Code, Article 1231 — Modes of Extinguishing Obligations. Read the full provision →

What the law says

Other causes of extinguishment of obligations, such as annulment, rescission, fulfillment of a resolutory condition, and prescription, are governed elsewhere in this Code.

Civil Code, Article 1231 — Modes of Extinguishing Obligations. Read the full provision →

The six modes Article 1231 names

Article 1231 opens with a list of six named ways an obligation ends: payment or performance, where the debtor does exactly what he promised; the loss of the thing due, when the specific thing that was owed ceases to exist; condonation or remission, where the creditor voluntarily forgives what is owed; confusion or merger, when the same person ends up holding both the creditor's and the debtor's side of the obligation; compensation, where mutual debts between the same two parties offset each other; and novation, where the original obligation is replaced by a new one. Each of these six has its own detailed requirements spelled out in later articles of the Code — Article 1231 only names them as the recognized categories.

Article 1231 does not stop at six

The article goes on to say that other causes of extinguishment — annulment, rescission, fulfillment of a resolutory condition, and prescription — exist as well, but are governed elsewhere in the Code rather than in this particular provision. So the six named modes are not an exhaustive list of every way an obligation can end; they are simply the ones grouped together here, with the remaining recognized causes addressed in the parts of the Code that deal with contracts, conditional obligations, and prescription specifically.

Why the distinction between the two groups matters

The first six modes generally describe something happening to the obligation itself — it is performed, forgiven, offset, or replaced. The causes mentioned in the second sentence tend instead to attack the underlying contract or the condition attached to it: a contract can be annulled or rescinded, or a resolutory condition can be fulfilled, cutting off the obligation that depended on it. Prescription, by contrast, works through the passage of time rather than any act of the parties. Which mode applies to your situation matters, because each carries its own separate requirements and effects.

What this means if you're trying to get out of, or enforce, an obligation

If you are looking for a way an obligation might already be extinguished, or a way to end one you are bound by, Article 1231 is the starting map rather than the full answer. It confirms the recognized categories exist, but the actual requirements for each — what counts as a valid tender of payment, when a thing is considered lost, what conduct amounts to condonation, how compensation must be set up, or what a valid novation requires — are found in the specific articles the Code devotes to that particular mode.

Cases citing this provision

These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.