Pufendorf: On the Duty of Man and Citizen according to Natural Law

1. There are various methods of dissolving obligations based on agreement the effect of which is the extinction of the duties derived from them. The most natural is die fulfilment or payment of what was agreed upon. It is normally the debtor who is obliged to pay; but the Obligation is also dissolved if Performance is made by another party in the name of the person who contracted the Obligation, if in fact it would not make any difference who satisfies the agreement. There is a condition, however, that the person who pays for another without the intention of making it a gift may claim from him what he has spent.

Payment must be made to the creditor, or to one whom he has delegated to accept the debt in his name.

Finally, Performance or payment must be exactly what was agreed upon, not something else instead; it must be whole, not damaged, not merely a part and not divided; and it must be at the time and place agreed. However, the creditor's humanity or the debtor's inability to pay may often force an extension of the payment date or acceptance of something else instead.

2. Obligations are also extinguished by compensation. This is a reciprocal adjustment of credit and debt, or the liberation of the debtor for the reason that the creditor evidently owes him in his turn something of the same kind and value. For ‘so much’ is ‘the same\ particularly in the case of fungibles, and in the case of a reciprocal debt I would have to give straight back what I have just received. Therefore to avoid unnecessary transactions the most convenient way of making the payment is for both parties to keep what they have.

It is obvious that compensation in the strict sense is properly made where it is a question of fungible objects of the same kind whether at the due time for payment or later, but not where it is a question of other things or other types of Performance, unless on both sides they are reduced to an estimate of their value, that is to money.

3. An Obligation is also ended by release, or remission offered by the person to whom the debt was due and who had an interest in the fulfilment of the Obligation.