1784. The order of restitution among cooperators in injury is according to the priority of the obligation of one to that of another, in the sense that one is obliged to pay all and the other is obliged only in the former’s default. This order of priority in obligation is in force when many cooperators are bound _in solidum_ and when they cooperated in different ways (e.g., one as possessor, another as advisor, another as performer, etc.). The order generally given by moralists is as follows:
(a) the possessor is bound first of all, since he has the goods of another and the goods call for their owner;
(b) the cooperators are bound next in the following order: the originator (such as a perpetrator acting in his own name, or a mandator); the perpetrator acting in the name of another; the others who aided the commission of the act (such as advisors, flatterers, etc.); those who did not prevent or resist injustice.
1785. The obligations of cooperators when restitution in full is made by one of their number, or when condonation of debt is made to one of their number, are as follows: (a) if restitution was due _pro rata_, the other cooperators must indemnify their associate who paid all, or must pay their shares to the injured party who gave condonation only to one of their group;
(b) if restitution was due _in solidum_, payment by or condonation to a principal cause frees the secondary causes; but payment by or condonation to a secondary cause does not exempt a principal cause, and the latter is still held either to the secondary cause or to the injured party, as the case may be; payment by or condonation to an equal cause does not exempt the other equal causes.
1786. The person to whom restitution must be made is the person whose strict right has been violated, or, in his absence, it is society. But the following cases should be distinguished:
(a) when the injured person is known for certain and his right is certain, restitution should be made to the injured person or his representatives or successors, or, if this is not possible, to charitable or pious causes;
(b) when the injured person is entirely unknown, if the one who is the cause of the loss is in good faith, his obligations are those of a possessor in good faith; but if he is in bad faith, the common opinion is that he is bound, at least from customary law, to make restitution by giving to the poor or to religion;
(c) when the injured person is partly unknown, the person who is the cause of the loss should make restitution to the best of his ability. If the doubt extends to only a few persons (say four or five), any one of whom may be the injured person, restitution should be divided in the best way possible among these persons; if the doubt extends to many, but the injured persons were only a few, it seems that restitution may be made by giving to charity or religion either in the place of the injury or elsewhere; if the doubt extends to many, and the injured persons were many inhabitants of the locality, restitution must be made if possible to the injured parties themselves, otherwise to some public cause of the local community.
1787. Order of Preference Among Creditors.—The natural order of preference is to be shown to creditors when the debtor is unable to pay them all.