Solidary obligations

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A solidary obligation, or an obligation in solidum, is a type of obligation in the civil law jurisprudence that allows either obligors to be bound together, each liable for the whole performance, or obligees to be bound together, all owed just a single performance and each entitled to the entirety of it. In general, solidarity of an obligation is never presumed, and it must be expressly stated as the true intent of the parties' will. Contractual solidary obligations are frequently created by insurance policies or co-signing a loan. A common example of a solidary obligation created thorough operation of law is vicarious liability such as respondeat superior.

Solidarity can be either active or passive. A solidary obligation that is active exists among the obligees (creditors) in the transaction. It is passive when it exists among the obligors (debtors) in a transaction. A solidary obligation is almost always an advantage for a creditor because it will either allow any creditor to demand the entirety of the debt from the sole debtor when the solidarity is active, or it will allow the creditor to demand the entirety of the debt from any of the multiple debtors when it is passive.

The origin of solidarity can be traced to a Roman idea known as correality where a single thing was owed by more than one person. Under these circumstances, there was just a single obligation. There was a transformation and growth of this idea during the ius commune before being codified in the Napoleonic Code of 1804.

In Louisiana law, solidary obligations are governed by articles 1789–1806 of the Louisiana Civil Code.