---
urn: "urn:us-la:civcode:art:3506"
article_number: "3506"
status: active
heading: "General definitions of terms"
breadcrumb: "Book III › Title XXV"
source_url: "https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110533"
acts_citations_raw: "Amended by Acts 1979, No. 607, §1; Acts 1981, No. 919, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 1982; Acts 1979, No. 711, §1; Acts 1987, No. 125, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 1988; Acts 1990, No. 989, §7, eff. Jan. 1, 1991; Acts 1991, No. 923, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992; Acts 1997, No. 1317, §1, eff. July 15, 1997; Acts 1997, No. 1421, §2, eff. July 1, 1999; Acts 1999, No. 503, §1; Acts 2004, No. 26, §1; Acts 2025, No. 488, §1."
acts_citations:
  - act_year: 1979
    act_number: 607
    section: 1
    role: enactment
  - act_year: 1981
    act_number: 919
    section: 2
    effective_date: 1982-01-01
    role: amendment
  - act_year: 1979
    act_number: 711
    section: 1
    role: amendment
  - act_year: 1987
    act_number: 125
    section: 2
    effective_date: 1988-01-01
    role: amendment
  - act_year: 1990
    act_number: 989
    section: 7
    effective_date: 1991-01-01
    role: amendment
  - act_year: 1991
    act_number: 923
    section: 1
    effective_date: 1992-01-01
    role: amendment
  - act_year: 1997
    act_number: 1317
    section: 1
    effective_date: 1997-07-15
    role: amendment
  - act_year: 1997
    act_number: 1421
    section: 2
    effective_date: 1999-07-01
    role: amendment
  - act_year: 1999
    act_number: 503
    section: 1
    role: amendment
  - act_year: 2004
    act_number: 26
    section: 1
    role: amendment
  - act_year: 2025
    act_number: 488
    section: 1
    role: amendment
schema_version: "1.0.0"
---

# Art. 3506. General definitions of terms

Whenever the terms of law, employed in this Code, have not been particularly defined otherwise, they shall be understood as follows:

(1) Assignment. An assignment is a transfer of rights by particular title, such as by sale, donation, or particular legacy.

(2) Juridical act. A juridical act is a manifestation of will intended to produce legal consequences. Juridical acts may be unilateral, such as donations mortis causa, or bilateral, such as contracts.

(3) Successor. A successor is a person who takes the place of another. There are two kinds of successors: the universal successor, such as the heir, universal legatee, and general legatee; and the particular successor, such as the buyer, donee, or particular legatee. The universal successor represents the person of the deceased and succeeds to his rights and charges. The particular successor succeeds only to the rights appertaining to the thing that is sold, donated, or bequeathed, or otherwise transferred to him.

(4) Third person. A third person is a person who is not a party to a ceremony, an instrument, a juridical act, a judgment, or a legal relationship. Examples of third persons include officiants to ceremonies, witnesses to instruments or juridical acts, and all those other than obligor and obligee to the legal relationship between the former and the latter. With respect to an obligation, a third person does not include a person such as a universal successor or a person who assumes the obligation or is bound by contract to recognize it.