A fire does not release a debtor from his debt.

Explanation

(English-origin maxim.) The accidental destruction of evidence or property by fire does not extinguish the underlying debt — the obligation survives independent of the physical instruments that evidence it.

Where this applies

• A debtor's house burns down along with the promissory note he signed, but the creditor can still collect because the fire did not extinguish the underlying debt.
• A fire destroys a merchant's records of accounts receivable, but the debts owed to him survive because the obligation exists independent of the paperwork.
• A bank's building burns and the original loan documents are lost, but every borrower still owes what they owed — fire does not cancel a debt.