ASSIGNMENT, a deed or instrument of transfer, the operative words of which are to " assign, transfer, and set over," and which transfers both real and per sonal property. Estates for life and es tates for years are the principal interests in land which are passed by an assign ment ; and by the statute of Frauds and Perjuries (29 Charles II.) the assignment of such estates is required to be in writing. An assignment differs from a lease, in being a transfer of the entire interest of the lessor ; whereas a lease is an estate for years taken out of a greater estate, creates the relation of landlord and tenant, and reserves to the lessor a reversion. If, however, a deed in effect passes the whole interest of the tenant, it operates as an assignment, though it be in form a lease, and though it reserve a rent. If A, hav ing a term of twenty years in land, grants to B the whole twenty years, reserving a rent : in such case B is assignee of the whole term and interest, and not under lessee to A ; and A, for want of having a reversion, cannot distrain for the rent. A, in such case, can only sue B for the rent as for money due upon a contract. In all under-leases, therefore, it is ne cessary that part of the original term should remain in the lessor : a day is sufficient. (Sheppard's Touchstone, 266; Blackstone, Comm. v. ii. 326 ; Bacon, Ab. 7th edit. tit. Assignment.
An Assignment of Goods, Chattels, &e. is frequently made by BILL OF SALE. As to all (foods and chattels in possession, no ob jection ever existed to their transfer and assignment by deed of writing; but with respect to things in action, chosen in action, as they are technically called (as debts, for instance), according to an ancient rule of the common law, now considerably modified, they could not be assigned over by the party to whom they were due, since the assignment Faye to a third party a right of action against the debtor, and thus led to the offence of maintenance— that is, the abetting and supporting of suits in the king's courts by others than the actual parties to them. In the courts of common law this rule exists (with some exceptions) at the present day. Thus, if the obligee in a bond assign over the bond to a third party, the assignee cannot sue on the bond at common law in his own name ; but such an assignment generally contains (and ought always to do so) a power of attorney from the obligee to the assignee, to sue in the obligee's name en the bond. Courts of equity have always protected such assignments, and regarded the assignee, for valuable consideration, as the actual owner of the bond ; and the courts of common law so far recognise the right of the assignee, that if the obligor, after notice of the assignment, pay the money on the bond to the obligee, the courts will not permit him to plead such payment to an action brought by the assignee in the obligee's name on the bond.
There are various things that are not as signable even in equity, for various legal reasons. A husband is entitled to sue for his wife's choses in action, and he can assign them, that is, sell them, to another person ; but as his right to assign is founded on his power to obtain the wife's choses in action by legal means, it follows that if at the time of the assignment the husband has not the power to obtain pos sesion of his wife's choses in action, the assignment has no immediate effect. Neither the future whole•pay nor the fu ture half-pay of an officer is capable of being assigned, it being considered con trary to public policy that a stipend given to a man for his public services should be transferred to another man not capable of performing them. The exceptions to the rule that choses in action are not assignable at law are many. The king might at all times become the assignee of a chose in action ; and after such an assignment he was entitled to have execution against the body, lands, and goods of the debtor. But this prerogative, having been abused by the king's debtors, was restrained by stet. 7 James I. c. 15, by a privy seal in 12 James I., and by rule of court of 15 Charles I. ; and the practice of actually assigning debts to the king by his debtors has long become obsolete. Bills of ex change are assignable by indorsement, in virtue of the custom of merchants [Btu. OF Excaml; and promissory notes, by virtue of e 3 & 4 Anne, e. 9. Bail bonds are assignable by the sheriff to plaintiff in the suit under 4 Anne, C. 16, s. 20. Replevin bonds, by the 11 Geo. II. c. 19. The petitioning creditor's bond under a fiat of bankruptcy, by 6 Geo. IV. c. 16.
The word assignment contains the same elements as the Roman word " assignatio," or " adsignatio," which among other siguifications had that of an " assignment" of land, that is, a marking out by boundaries (sign) portions of public land which were given by the state to its citizens or veteran soldiers. Also it was used to signify the sealing of a written instrument, from which notion we easily pass to the notion of the effect of the sealed instrument, which is the sense that the word has obtained anions us.