ARTICLE 1492

The prohibitions in the two preceding

articles are applicable to sales by virtue
of legal redemption, compromises and
renunciations.
 Compromise
It is a contract whereby the parties, by
reciprocal concessions, avoid a litigation or
put an end to one already commenced. (Art.
2028.) It is the amicable settlement of a
controversy.
Renunciation

A creditor gratuitously abandons his

right against his creditor. The other
terms used by the law are condonation
and remission. (see Art. 1270.)
 Legal redemption
It is the right to be subrogated, upon the
same terms and conditions stipulated in
the contract, in the place of one who
acquires a thing by purchase or dation in
payment, or by any other transaction
whereby ownership is transmitted by
onerous title.
ARTICLE 1493
If at the time the contract of sale is perfected,
the thing which is the object of the contract has
been entirely lost, the contract shall be without
any effect.
But if the thing should have been lost in part
only, the vendee may choose between
withdrawing from the contract and demanding
the remaining part, paying its price in
proportion to the total sum agreed upon.
Effect of loss of thing at the time
of sale
Thing entirely lost

Where the thing is entirely lost at

the time of perfection, the contract
is inexistent and void because there
is no object. There being no
contract, there is no necessity to
bring an action for annulment
 Thing only partially lost

If the subject matter is only partially lost, the vendee may

elect between withdrawing from the contract and demanding
the remaining part, paying its proportionate price.
 When a thing considered lost.
The thing is lost when it perishes or goes out of commerce or disappears in
such a way that its existence is unknown or it cannot be recovered.

The word “perishes” is sufficiently inclusive as to cover a case where there

has been material deterioration or complete change in the nature of the
thing in such a manner that it loses its former utility taking into
consideration the time the contract was entered into.
ARTICLE 1494
Where the parties purport a sale of specific goods, and the goods without
the knowledge of the seller have perished in part or have wholly or in a
material part so deteriorated in quality as to be substantially changed in
character, the buyer may at his option treat the sale:
(1) as avoided; or
(2) as valid in all of the existing goods or in so much thereof as have not
deteriorated, and as binding the buyer to pay the agreed price for the
goods in which the ownership will pass, if the sale was divisible.
 Effect of loss in case of specific goods.
Article 1493 applies to a sale of specific thing. Article 1494, on the other
hand, applies to sales of goods, that is, the object of the sale consists of a
mass of “specific goods” which means “goods identified and agreed upon at
the time a contract of sale is made.”

Both articles have actually the same essence providing two alternative
remedies to the buyer in case of deterioration or partial loss of the object
prior to the sale, namely: to rescind or withdraw from the contract or to
give it legal effect, paying the proportionate price of the remaining object.
 Sale divisible
 The second option is
available only if the sale is
divisible. (Art. 1494, par.
2.) A contract is divisible
when its consideration is
made up of several parts.
(see Art. 1420.) When the
consideration is entire and
single, the contract is
indivisible.
Sale indivisible
 Suppose the sale is not divisible,
what price is the buyer to pay for the
remaining goods if he elects to
continue with the sale? It is
believed that the buyer should be
made to pay only the proportionate
price of the remaining goods as
provided for in paragraph 2 of the
preceding article. If the sale is
indivisible, the object thereof may
be considered as a specific thing.