ARTICLE 1254

When the payment cannot be applied in accordance with the preceding rules, or if application
cannot be inferred from other circumstances, the debt which is most onerous to the debtor, among
those due, shall be deemed to have been satisfied.
If the debts due are of the same nature and burden, the payment shall be applied to all of them
proportionately. (1174a)

 In cases of multiple debts, to determine the onerous of the same, the following may be stated as
bases for such determination:
1. in the event that one obligation is principal in nature and the other was incurred as surety to
another, the former is more onerous.
2. where there are various debts, the oldest ones are more burdensome, and payments should be
applied to them before the most recent ones.
3. the debt that earns interest is onerous than the debt that does not.
4. the debt with security is onerous than that of having none.

ONEROUS – describes a contract or lease that has more obligations than advantages. Onerous derives
from Middle English, from Old French onereus, from Latin onerōsus, from onus "burden." In English, an
onus is a task or duty that is onerous, or very difficult.

 Onerous is synonymous to heavy, difficult, tiring, tedious, and the like. Thus, in legal jargon, the
onerous obligation is the obligation that may be heaviest or most complex to perform amongst
obligations.
CITATIONS:

“Article 1254” OBLICON 2017, 24, 2017,

https://lspuoblicon2017blog.wordpress.com/2017/04/24/article-1254-2/

“Onerous” Vocabulary.com, https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/onerous#:~:text=In%20legal

%20usage%2C%20onerous%20describes,is%20onerous%2C%20or%20very%20difficult. | Accessed on 1
November 2022