Samuel Blatchford

“ Corning, 14 How. 193, 216, this court said: 'A mere license to a party, without having 'his assigns' or equivalent words to them, showing that it was meant to be assignable, is only the grant of a personal power to the licensee, and is not transferable by him to another.' *In the present case there are no words of assignability in either instrument. The right is granted to Morgan alone, to him personally, with an agreement by him that he will enter on the manufacture of the self-raising flour, and that he will use all his business tact and skill to introduce and sell the flour. ”

“ He did not acquire the whole of the exclusive right or legal estate vested in the Rumford Chemical Works by the patent for the said territory, leaving no interest in his grantor for that territory, as to anything granted by the patent. It is well settled that a transfer of a right such as Morgan acquired is not an assignment, nor such a grant of exclusive right as the statute speaks of, but is a mere license. ”

“ The former suit arose out of a contract between Morgan and Oliver, Finnie & Co., and was brought to recover damages for the breach of that contract. Under these circumstances, the question as to the rights of Morgan under the patent must be regarded as one to be passed upon in this suit as an original question, as if there had been no former suit. Giving to the opinion of the supreme court of Tennessee that consideration which is due to the force of reasoning in the views which it announces, we are unable to concur in the construction it gave to the license to Morgan. ”