Text of the provision
Art. 1629. In case the assignor in good faith should have made himself responsible for the solvency of the debtor, and the contracting parties should not have agreed upon the duration of the liability, it shall last for one year only, from the time of the assignment if the period had already expired. If the credit should be payable within a term or period which has not yet expired, the liability shall cease one year after the maturity.
(1530a)
Civil Code of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 386, approved June 18, 1949, effective August 30, 1950. Reproduced in full; verified verbatim against the LawPhil and ChanRobles official-text renderings.
What this article means
Where the assignor warranted the debtor's solvency but no duration was fixed, the warranty lasts one year — from the assignment (if the debt was already due) or from maturity (if not yet due).
This is a gap-filling rule that only matters when the parties themselves left the duration of the warranty unstated. Two different starting points apply depending on the debt's status at the time of assignment. If the debt was already due and demandable, the one-year clock starts running immediately from the assignment. If the debt still had time to run, the warranty instead lasts until one year after the debt matures — meaning the assignor's exposure can extend well past the date of the assignment itself, tracking the debtor's own payment schedule rather than the transaction date.
Questions about this provision
- Can I sell or assign to someone else the money that a customer still owes me?
- If someone who sold me a credit guaranteed the debtor's solvency, how long does that guarantee last?
- I warranted my debtor's solvency when I assigned the credit. The credit matured six months ago and the debtor is now insolvent. How long is my warranty?
- I sold a credit and promised the debtor would pay. The debtor defaulted two years later. Am I still liable on my warranty of solvency?
Related provisions
- Article 1628 — Assignor's Warranty (Existence, Not Solvency).
- Article 1630 — Sale of an Inheritance in Bulk.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.