Legal assignment

“ To hold the Anti-Assignment Act inapplicable because an assignment has been executed under a 'mutual mistake of law' would require an inquiry into the state of mind of all parties to a challenged assignment, and would reward those who are ignorant of a statute which has been on the books for nearly a century. ”

“ The legislature has made no exception in favor of assignments so made. It is still a suit to recover a chose in action in favor of an assignee, which suit could not have been prosecuted if no assignment had been made ”

“ Whether in a given case an assignee belongs to the first or second class depends upon the purpose for which he was created, the object to be attained by his creation, and the language of the statute or other instrument from which he derives his powers. A voluntary assignee is ordinarily invested with all the rights which his assignor possessed, with respect to the property; while the rights of an assignee by operation of law are such only as are necessarily incident to the complete possession and enjoyment of the things assigned. ”

“ By the English statute and ours of 1800, the commissioners made a formal deed of conveyance and assignment of the property and effects of the bankrupt to the assignee. By our statute of 1841, no deed of conveyance or assignment is made to the assignee appointed by the court, but by the third section the decree of the court is made to stand in the place, and to have the effect, of a formal deed of conveyance and assignment to the assignee, when thereafter appointed by the court. ”

“ An assignment ineffective at law may none the less amount to the creation of an equitable lien when the subject matter of the assignment has been reduced to possession and is in the hands of the assignor or of persons claiming under him with notice. ”

“ Rep. 544: 'If the assignee of the chose in action is unable to assert in a court of law the legal right of the assignor, which in equity is vested in him, then the jurisdiction of a court of chancery may be invoked, because it is the proper forum for the enforcement of equitable interests, and because there is no adequate remedy at law ”

“ Taking the whole of the acts together, it is manifest, that to enable the assignee to sue in his own name, the bond, bill, or note must be assigned, made over, and indorsed. A bare assignment and making over by delivery, without an indorsement, is not sufficient, because the statute requires the bond or note to be indorsed to enable the assignee to sue in his own name. ”

“ If an assignor has given notice of assignment of a claim to the obligor, even in a case where assignment has not been made or the assignment is null and void, an obligor acting in good faith may be set up a defense which can set up against the assignee, against the assignor. ”

“ There can be no doubt that in the present case the assignment was voluntary. The Boshamers were free to sell their land as well as their damage claim to whomever they pleased, or, had they chosen, they could have sold the land and the claim separately. The voluntary nature of the assignment is reflected in the fact that one of the respondents testified on cross-examination that he understood that he was 'buying a claim against the Government.' [10]
That an assignment is voluntary is not an end to the matter, however. ”

“ Mitford, (9 Ves. jur.) the Master of the Rolls says, 'between a particular assignment for valuable consideration, and an assignment by operation of law, such a distinction has always been made, that the effect of the one is not necessarily to be inferred from that produced by the other.' In the same case he says, 'I have always understood the assignment from the commissioners, like any other assignment by operation of law, passed his rights precisely in the same plight and condition as he possessed them. ”

“ In the case where the employee survives and accepts compensation as the only person entitled, it is clear that the statutory assignment vests in the employer the full right to recover damages from the third person. ”

“ It follows that the assignment, which vests the assignee with a discretion contrary to the mandates of the statute, and in effect authorizes him to sell the property conveyed thereby in a method not permitted by the statute, must be void, for contracts and conveyances in contravention of the terms of policy of a statute will not be sanctioned. ”

“ The fact that assignments could be made at all indicated a congressional concern for the farmers' welfare, in light of the general statutory prohibition on assignment of federal claims embodied in the Anti-Assignment Act, 31 U.S.C. § 203. ”

“ An able receivership often results in the adjustment of difficulties and the return of the property to its owners on a paying basis. While in the case of assignee the appointment is by the individual, partnership, or corporation executing the deed of assignment which specifies the powers and duties of the assignee, in the case of receiver the appointment is by a court and the company so appointed acts as an appointee or ministerial officer of the court, and as such is directly subject to the court's orders. ”

“ That in all laws made or to be made every person may be bound alike, and that no tenure, estate, charter, degree, birth, or place do confer any exemption from the ordinary course of legal proceedings whereunto others are subjected. ”

“ In giving the assignee exclusive control over the right of action, however, we think that the statute presupposes that the assignee's interests will not be in conflict with those of the employee, and that through action of the assignee the employee will obtain his share of the proceeds of the right of action, if there is a recovery. ”

“ Independently of a statute on the subject, we do not see why, as a mere matter of law, an assignment should be held void because the assignee is not a citizen or resident of the state where the assignment is made and the debtor resides, provided he complies with the conditions prescribed by the law. A citizen or resident of another state may, in a particular case, be a very proper assignee. A large part of a debtor's assets may be located in a state other than that in which he resides. ”

“ Wherever, by either the common law or the statute law of a State, a right of action has become fixed and a legal liability incurred, that liability may be enforced and the right of action pursued in any court which has jurisdiction of such matters and can obtain jurisdiction of the parties. ”

“ In the absence of any provision as to the finality of the determination by the deputy commissioner of the jurisdictional fact of employment, the statute is open to the construction that the court in determining whether a compensation order is in accordance with law may determine the fact of employment which underlies the operation of the statute. ”

“ In the one case the officers exist, the duty is plain, the plaintiff has a legal right to have these officers perform that duty for his benefit, and the remedy to compel this performance, namely, the writ of mandamus, has been a wellknown process in the hands of the courts of common law for ages. ”

“ If the Commission or the court, as the case may be, finds that the application of the regulation or order to the employer, employment agency, or labor organization in question would impose an undue hardship, the Commission or the court, as the case may be, may grant appropriate relief. ”

“ I think when we are called upon, in the exercise of our equitable jurisdiction, to order an attorney to perform a contract, to pay money, or to fulfil an undertaking, there we have jurisdiction only if the undertaking or the contract is made in his character of attorney, or so connected with his character of attorney as to bring it within the power of the court to require that their officer shall behave well as an officer. ”

“ No officer or member of any association or organization, and no association or organization participating or interested in a labor dispute, shall be held responsible or liable in any court of the United States for the unlawful acts of individual officers, members, or agents, except upon clear proof of actual participation in, or actual authorization of, such acts, or of ratification of such acts after actual knowledge thereof.' 47 Stat. ”

“ No person legally held to service or labor in one state, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of regulations subsisting therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. ”

“ Under the Labor Management Relations Act the District Court is given jurisdiction to enjoin 'and to make such other orders as may be appropriate.' Congress thus provided a jurisdiction additional to the power to grant an injunction, not alternative to it: an 'other order' may only supplement an injunction, it may not supplant it. ”

“ Certain described persons and classes of persons are plainly entitled to the benefit of the provision, whether regarded as officers or as mere employees, and it is no valid argument against that proposition to show that there are or may be other employees or persons in the civil service here who are not within that description, as the terms of the enactment are special and do not extend to every employment in that service, but only to the described persons and classes of persons therein mentioned. ”

“ It means that act by which an individual acquires an inceptive right to a portion of the unappropriated soil of the country, by filing his claim in the office of an officer known in the legislation of several States by the epithet of an entry-taker, and corresponding very much in his functions with the registers of land offices, under the acts of the United States. ”

“ If after such notice the debtor should pay the assignor or a subsequent assignee, such payment would not discharge the debtor, and the first assignee could collect the claim from him.
NON-ASSIGNABLE RIGHTS.—Rights cannot be assigned which are personal in their nature. The one who has contracted to paint a picture cannot [Pg 107] delegate the duty to another, no matter how skillful. One who has a right to the personal services of an employee cannot assign that right to another. ”

“ It is undoubted that both in England and in this country it has been held that it is contrary to public policy to enforce in a court of law, in favor of a public officer, whose duty by virtue of his employment required the doing of a particular act, any agreement or contract made by the officer with a private individual, stipulating that the officer should receive an extra compensation or reward for the doing of such act. ”

“ The case is therefore the classic jurisdiction conflict covered by § 8 (b) (4) (D) which makes 'forcing or requiring any employer to assign particular work to employees in a particular labor organization' an unfair labor practice. ”

“ The adoption by the United States of the wrongful act of an officer is, of course, an adoption of the act when and as committed, and causes such act of the officer to be, in virtue of the statute, a rightful appropriation by the government, for which compensation is provided. ”

“ But where the employee rejects it and the employer accepts it, then, by § 3b, 'the employer shall have the right to plead and rely upon any and all defenses including those at common law, and the rules and defenses of contributory negligence, assumption of risk and fellow servant shall apply and be available to the employer as by statute authorized unless otherwise provided in this act;' with a proviso not material to the present point. ”

“ No one shall be deprived of the fruit of his labor except by judicial decree.
Each State shall determine by law what professions shall require licenses, the requisites to be complied with in obtaining the same, and the authorities empowered to issue them.
Art. 5. No one shall be compelled to render personal services without due compensation and without his full consent, excepting labor imposed as a penalty by judicial decree, which shall conform to the provisions of clauses I and II of Article 123. ”

“ And when it is remembered what class of actions it is, which, upon the principles of the common law, can be maintained by an assignee in his own name, it may well be admitted that it would not have been an unreasonable construction of the restriction if it had been applied only to notes, bonds, and other written contracts, containing promises to pay money, upon which an assignee could sue without using the name of the assignor. ”

“ The General Assembly has provided an elaborate system regulating the appointment to specified positions solely on the basis of merit and fitness, the grounds for termination of such employment, and the procedures which must be followed in connection with hiring, firing, promotion, and retirement. A federal court has no power to establish any such employment code. ”

“ The existence of a relation of employment is a question going to the applicability of the substantive law, not to the jurisdiction of the tribunal. Jurisdiction is the power to adjudicate between the parties concerning the subject-matter. Compare Reynolds v. Stockton, 140 U.S. 254, 268, 11 S.C.t. 773, 35 L. Ed. 464. Obviously, the deputy commissioner had not only the power but the duty to determine whether the employer employee relation existed. ”

“ Consistent with the spirit and purpose of its statutory predecessor, we have applied Rule 65 (d) in reviewing a judgment enforcing an order of the National Labor Relations Board, [13] and the courts of appeals have applied the rule not only to prohibitory injunctions but to enforcement orders and affirmative decrees as well. ”