Horace Gray

“ The doctrine of the right of a creditor to the benefit of all securities given by the principal to the surety for the payment of the debt does not rest upon any liability of the principal to the creditor, or upon any peculiar relation of the surety to wards the creditor, but upon the ground that the surety, being the creditor's debtor and in fact occupying the relation of surety to another other person, has received from that person an obligation or security for the payment of the debt which a court of equity will therefore compel to be applied to that purpose at the suit of the creditor. ”

“ In short, if one person agrees with another to be primarily liable for a debt due from that other to a third person, so that, as between the parties to the agreement, the first is the principal, and the second the surety, the creditor of such surety is entitled, in equity, to be substituted in his place, for the purpose of compelling such principal to pay the debt. ”

“ One of them, and by far the most frequent one, is the case where, under a contract between two persons, assets have come to the promisor's hands, or under his control, which in equity belong to third person. In such a case, it is held that the third person may sue in his own name. ”