tion can no longer be sustained, it being the true intent of the law that a contract avoidable by creditors under this section, cannot on that account be avoided by either of the parties.

ART. 1970. The plaintiff in the action given in this section may join the suit for annulling the contract to that which he brings against the original debtor for liquidating his debt by a judgment, and in such suit either of the defendants may controvert the demand of the plaintiff.

ART. 1971.-When the defendant in the action given by this section has not been made party to the suit against the original debtor, he may controvert the demand of the plaintiff, although it be liquidated by a judgment in the same manner that the debtor might have done before the judgment.

ART. 1972. The judgment in this action, if maintained, shall be that the contract be avoided as to its effects on the complaining creditors, and that all the property or money taken from the original debtor's estate, by virtue thereof, or the value of such property to the amount of the debt, be applied to the payment of the plaintiffs.

as,

S II.

What Contracts shall be avoided by this Action.

ART. 1973. No contract shall be avoided by this action but such as are made in fraud of creditors, and such if carried into execution, would have the effect of defrauding them. If made in good faith, it cannot be annulled, although it prove injurious to the creditors; and although made in bad faith, it cannot be rescinded, unless it operate to their injury.

ART. 1974. If the contract be onerous, and the original debtor made it with intent to defraud his creditors, but the person, with whom he contracted, was in good

faith, the contract cannot be annulled, except under the circumstances and in the manner hereinafter provided.

ART. 1975.-If the contract be purely gratuitous, it shall be presumed to have been made in fraud of creditors, if, at the time of making it, the debtor had not over and above the amount of his debts, more than twice the amount of the property passed by such gratuitous con

tract.

ART. 1976. If the contract be onerous, but made in fraud on the part of the debtor, but in good faith on the part of the person with whom he contracted, if the value of the property transferred by such contract exceed by one-fifth the price or consideration given for it, the creditors may annul the contract, and take back the property on paying the price or the value of the consideration. with interest; but in this case they shall not receive the fruits..

ART. 1977. If the party, with whom the debtor contracted, be in fraud as well as the debtor, he shall not, on the annulling the contract, be entitled to a restitution of the price or consideration he may have paid, except for so much as he shall prove has inured to the benefit of the creditors by adding to the amount of property applicable to the payment of their debts; but if the only consideration be a sum due from such debtor to the party with whom he contracted, then the only restitution to be made is the placing the parties in the situation in which they were before the contract complained of was made.

ART. 1978. But if such fraud consisted merely in the endeavour to obtain a preference over other creditors, for the securing or payment of a just debt, under circumstances in which by law the endeavour to obtain such preference is declared to be a constructive fraud, in such case the party shall only lose the advantage endeavoured to be secured by such contract, and shall be reimbursed what

he may have given or paid, but without interest; and he shall restore all advantages he has received from the transaction.

ART. 1979.-Every contract shall be deemed to have been made in fraud of creditors, when the obligee knew that the obligor was in insolvent circumstances, and when such contract gives to the obligee, if he be a creditor, any advantage over other creditors of the obligor.

ART. 1980. By being in insolvent circumstances is meant, that the whole property and credits are not equal in amount, at a fair appraisement, to the debts due by the party. And if he, who alleges the insolvency shows the amount of debts, it is incumbent on the other party to show property to an equal or greater amount. To prove the state of his affairs at the period of the contract, the debtor may, at the option of the plaintiff, be examined as a witness in the action for annulling the contract.

ART. 1981.-No sale of property, or other contract made in the usual course of the party's business, nor any payment of a just debt in money, shall be affected by virtue of any provision in this section, although the party was in insolvent circumstances, and the person with whom he contracted, or to whom he made the payment knew of such insolvency.

ART. 1982.-No contract made between the debtor and one of his creditors for the purpose of securing a just debt, shall be set aside under this section, although the debtor were insolvent to the knowledge of the creditors with whom he contracted, and although the other creditors are injured thereby, if such contract were made more than one year before bringing the suit to avoid it, and if it contain no other cause of nullity than the preference given to one creditor over another.

ART. 1983.-If a debtor, in insolvent circumstances, shall anticipate the payment of a debt not yet payable, and shall, to the injury of the creditors whose debts were

either then due, or would fall due before that of which he anticipated the payment, this shall be deemed to have been done in fraud of the creditors, and the creditor so preferred shall be obliged to share the loss rateably with the complaining creditors, each creditor, however, preserving the right of mortgage or privilege, if any, which his original debt gave him by law.

ART. 1984. Not only contracts which dispose of property, but all others which are made in fraud of creditors, and deprive them of their recourse to the property of their debtor, come within the provisions of this section. The renunciation of a succession or other right to property, the release of a debt without payment, or any other act of this kind, may be avoided by creditors, when done to their prejudice, under the rules above established.

ART. 1985. In case the debtor refuse or neglect to accept an inheritance to the prejudice of his creditors, they may accept the same, and exercise all his rights in the manner provided for in the title of successions, and they are authorized, by virtue of the action given by this section, to exercise all the rights which the debtor could do for recovering possession of the property to which he is entitled, in order to make the same available to the payment of their debts.

ART. 1986.-There are rights of the debtor, however, which the creditors cannot exercise, even should he refuse to avail himself of them.

They cannot require the separation of property between husband and wife, nor can they oblige their debtor to accept a donation inter vivos made to him, nor can they accept it in his stead. Neither can they call on a co-heir of the debtor to collate, when such debtor has not exercised that right.

ART. 1987.-There are also rights which are merely personal, that cannot be made liable to the payment of

debts, and therefore no contract respecting them comes within the provision of this section; these are the right of personal servitude, of use and habitation, of usufruct to the estate of a minor child, to the income of dotal property, to money due for the salary of an office, or wages, or recompense for personal services.

ART. 1988.-No creditor can, by the action given by this section, sue individually to annul any contract made before the time his debt accrued.

ART. 1989.-The action, given by this section, is limited to one year: if brought by a creditor individually, to be counted from the time he has obtained judgment against the debtor; if brought by syndics or other representatives of the creditors collectively, to be counted from the day of their appointment.

CHAPTER IV.

Of the different Kinds of Obligations.

SECTION I.

General Division of the Subject.

ART. 1990.-The preceding chapters of this title have established rules applicable to contracts in general: this contains an enumeration of such obligations as are usually inserted in different contracts, and the following chapters show how they may be formed, proved and extinguished. Subsequent titles enumerate the different kinds of contracts into which the general obligations may enter, and provide rules for their government.

ART. 1991.-Independent of the division of obligations contained in the first chapter of this title, those, that usually enter into particular contracts, may be further distinguished by the following classification:

Those which are strictly personal, or heritable, or real;