ASSIGNATION. 
ASSIGNMENT. 
signed, if the concourse ceased before the assign-|in these conveyances, however, which can put 
ment was completed by intimation. In like man-| the debtor in mala fide ; he is, therefore, in tuto, 
ner, if an assignation be not intimated by the| to pay to the wife, or to the original creditor in 
assignee, during the life of the cedent, any credi- | the debt adjudged, until the marriage, or adjudi- 
tor of the cedent, who, upon his death, shall con- 
firm the debt assigned, before intimation, shall 
be preferred to the assignee. 
It is not, however, always precisely required, 
that there should bea formal intimation, attested 
by a notary: all that the law requires is, either 
the intervention of some public officer, as a not- 
ary, to intimate the assignation to the debtor, or 
some other notice, which imports intimation as 
strongly as a notarial instrument. For example, 
Ist, An action brought by the assignee, or a 
charge on letters-of-horning, or a citation upon 
any diligence used by him against the debtor ; 
or, 2d, A promise of payment made by the debtor 
to the assignee, upon being shown the convey- 
ance; whether the promise be made by a missive, 
or other proper writing; nay, even a verbal pro- 
mise, provided it proceeded upon a communing. 
The payment of interest, made by the debtor 
to the assignee, is equivalent to intimation; for 
_it shows the assignee to be in the actual posses- 
sion of thedebt. But the debtor’s private know- 
ledge of the assignation is not held equal to in- 
timation. This, however, applies only to the 
| case of a competition among creditors; for when 
| the question is solely between the assignee and 
the debtor, the debtor’s private knowledge of the 
‘conveyance puts him in mala fide to make pay- 
ment to the cedent. The assignation of a lease, 
where not expressly forbidden, or of the rents of 
an estate, is perfected by possession, without the 
necessity of intimation; but such assignation, 
although intimated, is not valid in a competition 
with creditors, if the assignee has allowed the 
edent to remain in possession. Where there are 
many obligants, intimation made to any one is 
sufficient for completing the conveyance; but it 
cannot prevent those, to whom no intimation was 
given, from making payment to the cedent. , 
Certain assignations require no intimation: viz., 
1. Transmissions, or indorsations, of bills of ex- 
change; among which are included inland bills. 
2. Bank-notes, or bank-bills; which are fully 
conveyed by the bare delivery. 3. Assignations 
of assignable reversions need not be intimated, 
but must be recorded in the register of rever- 
sions. The recording of the conveyance of a 
moveable bond, however, does not supply the 
want of intimation; because the records are not 
intended to serve for publication, in the case of 
personal rights, but merely for safe custody, or 
as a warrant for diligence. 4. A right of lands, 
not perfected by seisin, does not, from its nature, 
admit of intimation. 5. Legal, or judicial as- 
signations, such as marriage, or adjudication, 
need not to be intimated; because they derive 
force from the law itself, and carry the full right 
to the subjects conveyed, without the interposi-, 
| tion of any legal solemnities. 
There is nothing 
cation, be notified to him. 
An assignation carries to the assignee all rights 
which corroborate or strengthen the right con- 
veyed, and all diligences which have proceeded 
upon it. Hence the assignee may use diligence, 
either in his own name, or in that of the cedent, 
while he is alive. But letters-of-diligence, which 
have been issued in name of the cedent, cannot 
be executed by the messenger in the name of the 
assignee ; for messengers have no power to judge 
of the import of transmissions, but are confined, 
in their executions, to the will of the letters. 
An assignee, however, may raise a caption in his 
own name, upon a horning raised in name of the 
cedent. 
In a right conveyed simply in trust, all ques- 
tions relative to the extent of the trustee’s powers 
depend on the nature and purposes of the trust. 
If it is intended that the trustee shall have full 
power over the subject, he may use all acts of 
property; but if the trust be granted merely for 
one special purpose, the powers of the trustee, 
though not limited in the right, ought to go no 
farther. 
After an assignation has been intimated, the 
debtor cannot prove payment or compensation 
by the oath of the cedent, unless the matter has | 
been made litigious by an action commenced 
prior to the intimation. But the debtor may 
refer to the oath of theassignee, that the assign- 
ment was gratuitous, or in trust for the cedent. 
If the assignation be partly onerous, and partly 
gratuitous, the oath of the cedent is good against 
the assignee, only in so far as his right is gra- 
tuitous. 
All defences competent against the original 
creditor in a moveable debt, which can be proved 
otherwise than by his oath, continue relevant, 
even against an onerous assignee, according to 
the rule: Assegnatus utitur jure auctoris.—Erskine’s 
Institutes, b. iii. t. v—Bell’s Dictionary of the Law 
of Scotland, v. ASSIGNATION. . 
ASSIGNMENT. In the law of England, the 
transferring of the interest which one has in any 
subject to another person. 
Assignments may be made of lands in fee, for 
life, or for a term of years; of an annuity, rent- 
charge, judgment, statute, &c. In the case of 
assignments of lands, they are usually of leases 
and estates for years. No estate of freehold, or 
‘term for years, may be assigned but by a written 
deed signed by the parties; unless when such 
assignment takes place by the operation of the 
law. A possibility, right of entry, title for con- 
dition broken, a trust, or chose in action, cannot 
be assigned. A lessee out of possession cannot 
assign his term, but must first enter, and recon- 
tinue his possession, or seal and deliver the deed 
upon the land. which puts the assignee into ac- 
a a enn orernn ny 
