Define: Assignment

Quick Summary of Assignment

In its most general and comprehensive sense, a transfer or making over to another of the whole of any property, real or personal, in possession or in action, or of any estate or right therein.

An assignment is a legal transfer of rights or property from one party to another. It involves the transfer of ownership of a property or a right from one person to another. The person who transfers the property or right is known as the assignor, while the person who receives the property or right is known as the assignee. An assignment can be made for various reasons, including the transfer of ownership, the transfer of a debt, or the transfer of a contract. The assignment must be in writing and signed by both parties to be legally binding. The assignee must also be notified of the assignment for it to be valid.

An assignment is a term used with similar meanings in the law of contracts and in the law of real estate. In both instances, it encompasses the transfer of rights held by one party—the assignor—to another party—the assignee. The legal nature of the assignment determines some additional rights and liabilities that accompany the act.

Liabilities

• Continuing Liability of Assignor
• The assignor remains liable unless there is an agreement to the contrary.
• Liability of Assignee: generally not liable
• Consumer Protection, Defences and Setoffs

Assignment of Contract Rights

The assignment of rights under a contract is the complete transfer of the rights to receive the benefits accruing to one of the parties to that contract. For example, if party A contracts with Party B to sell his car to him for $10, party A can later assign the benefits of the contract—the right to be paid $10—to party C. In this scenario, party A is the obligee/assignor, party B is the obligor, and party C is the assignee. Such an assignment may be donative (essentially given as a gift), or it may be contractually exchanged for consideration. It is important to note, however, that party C is not a third-party beneficiary because the contract itself was not made for the purpose of benefiting party C. However, an Assignment only transfers the rights and benefits to a new owner. The obligations remain with the previous owner. Compare Novation.

When Assignment Will Be Permitted

The common law favours the freedom of assignment, so an assignment will generally be permitted unless there is an express prohibition against assignment in the contract. Where assignment is thus permitted, the assignor need not consult the other party to the contract. An assignment cannot have any effect on the duties of the other party to the contract, nor can it reduce the possibility of the other party receiving full performance of the same quality. Certain kinds of performance, therefore, cannot be assigned because they create a unique relationship between the parties to the contract. For example, if party A contracts to hire an attorney to represent her in a civil case for a fee of $1000, she cannot then assign her contractual right to legal representation to another party. Note, however, that party A can assign her right to sue under the same claim she contracted with the attorney to pursue.

Requirements For An Effective Assignment

For an assignment to be effective, it must occur in the present. No specific language is required to make such an assignment, but the assignor must make some clear statement of intent to assign clearly identified contractual rights to the assignee. A promise to assign in the future has no legal effect. Although this prevents a party from assigning the benefits of a contract that has not yet been made, a court of equity may enforce such an assignment where an established economic relationship between the assignor and the assignee raised the expectation that the assignee would indeed form the appropriate contract in the future.

A contract may contain a non-assignment clause, which prohibits the assignment of specific rights, or of the entire contract, to another. However, such a clause does not necessarily destroy the power of either party to make an assignment. Instead, it merely gives the other party the ability to sue for breach of contract if such an assignment is made. However, an assignment of a contract containing such a clause will be ineffective if the assignee knows of the non-assignment clause or if the non-assignment clause specifies that “all assignments are void”.

Two other techniques to prevent the assignment of contracts are rescission clauses or clauses creating a condition subsequent. The former would give the other party to the contract the power to rescind the contract if an assignment is made; the latter would rescind the contract automatically in such circumstances.

Requirement Of A Writing

There are certain situations in which the assignment must be in writing.

• Assignment of wages
• Assignment of any interest in real property
• Assignment of choices of action worth over $5,000
• Assignment as collateral for a loan or debt

Revocability

Assignments made for consideration are irrevocable, meaning that the assignor permanently gives up the legal right to take back the assignment once it has been made. Donative assignments, on the other hand, are generally revocable, either by the assignor giving notice to the assignee, taking performance directly from the obligor, or making a subsequent assignment of the same right to another.

There are some exceptions to the revocability of a donative assignment:

• The assignment can not be revoked if the obligor has already performed
• The assignment can not be revoked if the assignee has received a token chosen (chose being derived from the French word for “thing”, as in a choice of action)—a physical object that signifies a right to collect, such as a stock certificate or the passbook to a savings account.
• The assignment can not be revoked if the assignor has set forth in writing the assignment of a simple choice—a contract right not embodied in any form of token.
• Estoppel can prevent the revocation of a donative assignment if the assignee changed their position in reliance on the assignment.

Finally, the death or declaration of bankruptcy by the assignor will automatically revoke the assignment by operation of law.

Breach And Defences

A cause of action for breach on the part of the obligor lies with the assignee, who will hold the exclusive right to commence a cause of action for any failure to perform or defective performance. At this stage, because the assignee “stands in the shoes” of the assignor, the obligor can raise any defence to the contract that the obligor could have raised against the assignor. Furthermore, the obligor can raise against the assignee counterclaims and setoffs that the obligor had against the assignor. For example, suppose that A makes a contract to paint B’s house in exchange for $500. A then assigns the right to receive the $500 to C to pay off a debt owed to C. However, A does such a careless job painting the house that B has to pay another painter $400 to correct A’s work. If C sues B to collect the debt, B can raise his counterclaim for the expenses caused by the poor paint job and reduce the amount owed to C by that $400, leaving only $100 to be collected.

When the assignor makes the assignment, he makes with it an implied warranty that the right to assign was not subject to defences. If the contract had a provision that made the assignment ineffective, the assignee could sue the assignor for breach of this implied warranty. Similarly, the assignee could also sue under this theory if the assignor wrongfully revoked the assignment.

Successive Assignments

Occasionally, an unscrupulous assignor will assign the exact same rights to multiple parties (usually for some consideration). In that case, the rights of the assignee depend on the revocability of the assignment and on the timing of the assignment relative to certain other actions.

In a quirk left over from the common law, if the assignment was donative, the last assignee is the true owner of the rights. However, if the assignment was for consideration, the first assignee to actually collect against the assigned contract is the true owner of the rights. Under the modern American rule, now followed in most U.S. jurisdictions, the first assignor with equity (i.e. the first to have paid for the assignment) will have the strongest claim, while remaining assignees may have other remedies. In some countries, the rights of the respective assignees are determined by the old common law rule in Dearle v Hall.

• Earlier donative assignees for whom the assignment was revocable (because it had not been made irrevocable by any of the means listed above) have no cause of action whatsoever.
• Earlier donative assignees for whom the assignment was made irrevocable can bring an action for the tort of conversion because the assignment was technically their property when it was given to a later assignee.
• Later assignees for consideration have a cause of action for breaches of the implied warranty discussed above.

A parallel concept to assignment is delegation, which occurs when one party transfers his duties or liabilities under a contract to another. A delegation and an assignment can be accomplished at the same time, although a non-assignment clause also bars delegation.

Assignment Of Property Rights

Real property rights can be assigned just as any other contractual right. However, special duties and liabilities attach to transfers of the right to possess property. With an assignment, the assignor transfers the complete remainder of the interest to the assignee. The assignor must not retain any sort of reversionary interest in the right to possess. The assignee’s interest must be in the interest of the next person to have the right to possession. If any time or interest is reserved by a tenant assignor, then the act is not an assignment but instead a sublease.

The liability of the assignee depends upon the contract formed when the assignment takes place. However, in general, the assignee has privity of estate with a lessor. With privity of estate comes the duty on the part of the assignee to perform certain obligations under covenant, e.g. pay rent. Similarly, the lessor retains the obligations to perform on covenants to maintain or repair the land.

If the assignor agrees to continue paying rent to the lessor and subsequently defaults, the lessor can sue both the assignor under the original contract signed with the lessor as well as the assignee because, by taking possession of the property interest, the assignee has obliged himself to perform duties under covenant, such as the payment of rent.

Assignment Of Partnership Rights

A person can also assign their rights to receive the benefits owed to a partner in a partnership. However, the assignee can not thereby gain any of the assignor’s rights with respect to the operation of the partnership. The assignee may not vote on partnership matters, inspect the partnership books, or take possession of partnership property; rather, the assignee can only be given the right to collect distributions of income. If the partnership is dissolved, the assignee can also claim the assignor’s share of any distribution accompanying the dissolution.

Assignment Of Patent Ownership

In the United States, assignment of a patent is governed by statute, 35 U.S.C. § 261. Assignment of an interest occurs only by an “instrument in writing”. The statute also permits recording an assignment with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but recording is not required. See also transfer (patent)

Disclaimer

This site contains general legal information but does not constitute professional legal advice for your particular situation. Persuing this glossary does not create an attorney-client or legal adviser relationship. If you have specific questions, please consult a qualified attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.

This glossary post was last updated: 9th April 2024.