aaa Sees .!:':5.5005. 
ASSIGNMENT. 
‘tual possession. If a lessee, for years, assigns the 
whole of his term, he cannot reserve a rent in 
the assignment; for he has no interest in the 
thing, by reason of which the rent reserved 
should be paid; but debt may lie upon it, as 
upon a contract. If a lessee, for years, assigns 
over his term, and dies, his executors shall not 
be lable for rent due after his decease. Where 
the executor of a lessee assigns the term, he will 
not be charged with debt for rent due after the 
assignment; because there is neither privity of 
contract, nor estate, between the lessor and ex- 
ecutor. But if the lessee himself assigns his 
lease, the privity of contract remains between 
him and the lessor, although the privity of estate 
is gone by the assignment; and, therefore, he 
shall not be chargeable during his life; but, at 
his death, the privity of contract also determines. 
Although a lessee assigns over his term, he is 
yet chargeable with debt to the lessor, or his 
heir, who have not accepted rent from the assig- 
nee. But where a lessee assigns his term, and 
the lessor also his reversion, the privity is deter- 
' mined, and debt does not lie, for the reversioner 
against the first lessee. In general, the assignee 
who has the land, and is privy in estate, is debtor 
in respect of the rent. In the case of an assign- 
ment made by an assignee, the first assignee is 
not liable for the rent; for if he be admitted by 
the lessor, the admission of one assignee is the 
admission of twenty. An assignment by an as- 
signee discharges him; and it is not required 
that he should give notice of his assignment to 
the lessor. 
Where a tenant, for years, assigns his estate, 
no consideration is necessary ; for the tenure 
being subject to the payment of rent, &c., is suf- 
ficient to vest an estate in the assignee. But, in 
other cases of assignment, some consideration is 
required to be paid. 
The word evr is sufficient to make an assignee; 
and the grantee of a common person is assignee 
to have benefit of a covenant, grant, &c. The 
words generally required in deeds of assignment 
are grant, assign, and set over ; which may amount 
to a grant, feoffement, lease, release, confirma- 
tion, &c. In these deeds, the granter must cove- 
nant to save harmless from former grants, &c. ; 
that he is owner of the lands, and has power to 
assign; that the assignee shall quietly enjoy, &c. 
And the assignee may covenant to pay the rent, 
&c. Some things are, from their nature, not as- 
signable. A bond, being a chose in action, can- 
not be assigned over, so as to enable the assignee 
to sue in his name. The form of assigning a 
chose in action is of the nature of a declaration 
of a trust, and an agreement to permit the as- 
| signee to make use of the name of his anthor, in’ 
order to recover the possession. 
The person, 
however, to whom a chose in action is transferred, 
is rather an attorney than an assignee. But the 
king had always the right of granting or receiving 
a chose in action by assignment. And in equity, 
ASTER. 
a chose in action is always considered as assign- 
able for a valuable consideration ; and the assig- 
nee alone becomes entitled to the money. Pro- 
missory-notes and bills of exchange, bail-bonds 
by the sheriff, a judge’s certificate for convicting 
a felon, and the effects of a bankrupt, are made 
assignable by several statutes.—Jacob’s Law Dic- 
tionary.— Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. ii. 
ASSIMILATION. The process by which the 
food of plants, or the elementary substances of 
which that food consists, are converted into the 
plants’ own substance. See the article Nurni- 
TION. 
ASTELIA. A stemless plant, of the asphodel | 
tribe. The only species known in Great Britain 
was brought hither from New Zealand in 1837, 
and is named Banksii in honour of Sir Joseph 
Banks. 
ASTER,—popularly Starort. An extensive 
genus of plants, of the composite family. The 
suborder asterese has this genus for its type; and 
comprises the well-known daisy, the china-aster, 
the golden-rod, and fifteen other genera, The 
flower of most of the aster genus, like that of the 
daisy and the chrysanthemum, closely resembles 
the popular emblem of a star; and hence both 
its popular name starwort, and its botanic name, 
which simply means ‘a star.’ Most of the spe- 
cies rank as ornamental plants; and yet com- 
paratively few are cultivated in flower-gardens. 
Most of the best known kinds have a rank and 
coarse appearance in the stem and leaves, and a 
somewhat staring appearance in the flowers; and _ 
yet, except for mere brilliance of tint, several 
might advantageously compare with some of 
the pet varieties of the fashionable cineraria. 
The species most commonly cultivated are those 
designated amellus, alpinu, hysopifolius, puncia- 
tus, acris, canus, rigidus, linarifolius, tenurfolius, 
dumosus, ericoides, and conifolius. About 160 
species, nearly all exotic, exist in Great Britain ; 
and are easily classifiable into seven divisions. 
The species of the first division are nine in num- 
ber; they take the ivy-leaved species, Aster cym- 
balarie, for their type ; they have variously broad, 
ovate, oblong, or lanceolate leaves; all are ten- 
der evergreen shrubs; nine have usually a height 
of from 13 to 3 feet; and six are natives of Van 
Dieman’s Land and New Holland. The species 
of the small-leaved division, angustifolii, are also 
nine in number; they have narrow or small 
leaves ; all are tender evergreen shrubs; most 
have a height of from 2 to 4 feet; eight are na- 
tives of the Cape of Good Hope; and one, from 
Carolina, grows 8 feet high, and is very hand- 
some. 
paucifior’, are seven in number; and are all 
hardy deciduous herbs of from 6 to 12 inches in 
height. The species of the linear-leaved division, 
linearifoli?, are about 25 in number; they have 
narrow, sublinear leaves, and many - flowered 
stems; all are natives of North America ; and, 
with two exceptions, are hardy perennial deci- 
eS EE 
The species of the few-flowered division, — 
