english law of assignment

assignments basic law

Assignments: The Basic Law

The assignment of a right or obligation is a common contractual event under the law and the right to assign (or prohibition against assignments) is found in the majority of agreements, leases and business structural documents created in the United States.

As with many terms commonly used, people are familiar with the term but often are not aware or fully aware of what the terms entail. The concept of assignment of rights and obligations is one of those simple concepts with wide ranging ramifications in the contractual and business context and the law imposes severe restrictions on the validity and effect of assignment in many instances. Clear contractual provisions concerning assignments and rights should be in every document and structure created and this article will outline why such drafting is essential for the creation of appropriate and effective contracts and structures.

The reader should first read the article on Limited Liability Entities in the United States and Contracts since the information in those articles will be assumed in this article.

Basic Definitions and Concepts:

An assignment is the transfer of rights held by one party called the “assignor” to another party called the “assignee.” The legal nature of the assignment and the contractual terms of the agreement between the parties determines some additional rights and liabilities that accompany the assignment. The assignment of rights under a contract usually completely transfers the rights to the assignee to receive the benefits accruing under the contract. Ordinarily, the term assignment is limited to the transfer of rights that are intangible, like contractual rights and rights connected with property. Merchants Service Co. v. Small Claims Court , 35 Cal. 2d 109, 113-114 (Cal. 1950).

An assignment will generally be permitted under the law unless there is an express prohibition against assignment in the underlying contract or lease. Where assignments are permitted, the assignor need not consult the other party to the contract but may merely assign the rights at that time. However, an assignment cannot have any adverse effect on the duties of the other party to the contract, nor can it diminish the chance of the other party receiving complete performance. The assignor normally remains liable unless there is an agreement to the contrary by the other party to the contract.

The effect of a valid assignment is to remove privity between the assignor and the obligor and create privity between the obligor and the assignee. Privity is usually defined as a direct and immediate contractual relationship. See Merchants case above.

Further, for the assignment to be effective in most jurisdictions, it must occur in the present. One does not normally assign a future right; the assignment vests immediate rights and obligations.

No specific language is required to create an assignment so long as the assignor makes clear his/her intent to assign identified contractual rights to the assignee. Since expensive litigation can erupt from ambiguous or vague language, obtaining the correct verbiage is vital. An agreement must manifest the intent to transfer rights and can either be oral or in writing and the rights assigned must be certain.

Note that an assignment of an interest is the transfer of some identifiable property, claim, or right from the assignor to the assignee. The assignment operates to transfer to the assignee all of the rights, title, or interest of the assignor in the thing assigned. A transfer of all rights, title, and interests conveys everything that the assignor owned in the thing assigned and the assignee stands in the shoes of the assignor. Knott v. McDonald’s Corp ., 985 F. Supp. 1222 (N.D. Cal. 1997)

The parties must intend to effectuate an assignment at the time of the transfer, although no particular language or procedure is necessary. As long ago as the case of National Reserve Co. v. Metropolitan Trust Co ., 17 Cal. 2d 827 (Cal. 1941), the court held that in determining what rights or interests pass under an assignment, the intention of the parties as manifested in the instrument is controlling.

The intent of the parties to an assignment is a question of fact to be derived not only from the instrument executed by the parties but also from the surrounding circumstances. When there is no writing to evidence the intention to transfer some identifiable property, claim, or right, it is necessary to scrutinize the surrounding circumstances and parties’ acts to ascertain their intentions. Strosberg v. Brauvin Realty Servs., 295 Ill. App. 3d 17 (Ill. App. Ct. 1st Dist. 1998)

The general rule applicable to assignments of choses in action is that an assignment, unless there is a contract to the contrary, carries with it all securities held by the assignor as collateral to the claim and all rights incidental thereto and vests in the assignee the equitable title to such collateral securities and incidental rights. An unqualified assignment of a contract or chose in action, however, with no indication of the intent of the parties, vests in the assignee the assigned contract or chose and all rights and remedies incidental thereto.

More examples: In Strosberg v. Brauvin Realty Servs ., 295 Ill. App. 3d 17 (Ill. App. Ct. 1st Dist. 1998), the court held that the assignee of a party to a subordination agreement is entitled to the benefits and is subject to the burdens of the agreement. In Florida E. C. R. Co. v. Eno , 99 Fla. 887 (Fla. 1930), the court held that the mere assignment of all sums due in and of itself creates no different or other liability of the owner to the assignee than that which existed from the owner to the assignor.

And note that even though an assignment vests in the assignee all rights, remedies, and contingent benefits which are incidental to the thing assigned, those which are personal to the assignor and for his sole benefit are not assigned. Rasp v. Hidden Valley Lake, Inc ., 519 N.E.2d 153, 158 (Ind. Ct. App. 1988). Thus, if the underlying agreement provides that a service can only be provided to X, X cannot assign that right to Y.

Novation Compared to Assignment:

Although the difference between a novation and an assignment may appear narrow, it is an essential one. “Novation is a act whereby one party transfers all its obligations and benefits under a contract to a third party.” In a novation, a third party successfully substitutes the original party as a party to the contract. “When a contract is novated, the other contracting party must be left in the same position he was in prior to the novation being made.”

A sublease is the transfer when a tenant retains some right of reentry onto the leased premises. However, if the tenant transfers the entire leasehold estate, retaining no right of reentry or other reversionary interest, then the transfer is an assignment. The assignor is normally also removed from liability to the landlord only if the landlord consents or allowed that right in the lease. In a sublease, the original tenant is not released from the obligations of the original lease.

Equitable Assignments:

An equitable assignment is one in which one has a future interest and is not valid at law but valid in a court of equity. In National Bank of Republic v. United Sec. Life Ins. & Trust Co. , 17 App. D.C. 112 (D.C. Cir. 1900), the court held that to constitute an equitable assignment of a chose in action, the following has to occur generally: anything said written or done, in pursuance of an agreement and for valuable consideration, or in consideration of an antecedent debt, to place a chose in action or fund out of the control of the owner, and appropriate it to or in favor of another person, amounts to an equitable assignment. Thus, an agreement, between a debtor and a creditor, that the debt shall be paid out of a specific fund going to the debtor may operate as an equitable assignment.

In Egyptian Navigation Co. v. Baker Invs. Corp. , 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30804 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 14, 2008), the court stated that an equitable assignment occurs under English law when an assignor, with an intent to transfer his/her right to a chose in action, informs the assignee about the right so transferred.

An executory agreement or a declaration of trust are also equitable assignments if unenforceable as assignments by a court of law but enforceable by a court of equity exercising sound discretion according to the circumstances of the case. Since California combines courts of equity and courts of law, the same court would hear arguments as to whether an equitable assignment had occurred. Quite often, such relief is granted to avoid fraud or unjust enrichment.

Note that obtaining an assignment through fraudulent means invalidates the assignment. Fraud destroys the validity of everything into which it enters. It vitiates the most solemn contracts, documents, and even judgments. Walker v. Rich , 79 Cal. App. 139 (Cal. App. 1926). If an assignment is made with the fraudulent intent to delay, hinder, and defraud creditors, then it is void as fraudulent in fact. See our article on Transfers to Defraud Creditors .

But note that the motives that prompted an assignor to make the transfer will be considered as immaterial and will constitute no defense to an action by the assignee, if an assignment is considered as valid in all other respects.

Enforceability of Assignments:

Whether a right under a contract is capable of being transferred is determined by the law of the place where the contract was entered into. The validity and effect of an assignment is determined by the law of the place of assignment. The validity of an assignment of a contractual right is governed by the law of the state with the most significant relationship to the assignment and the parties.

In some jurisdictions, the traditional conflict of laws rules governing assignments has been rejected and the law of the place having the most significant contacts with the assignment applies. In Downs v. American Mut. Liability Ins. Co ., 14 N.Y.2d 266 (N.Y. 1964), a wife and her husband separated and the wife obtained a judgment of separation from the husband in New York. The judgment required the husband to pay a certain yearly sum to the wife. The husband assigned 50 percent of his future salary, wages, and earnings to the wife. The agreement authorized the employer to make such payments to the wife.

After the husband moved from New York, the wife learned that he was employed by an employer in Massachusetts. She sent the proper notice and demanded payment under the agreement. The employer refused and the wife brought an action for enforcement. The court observed that Massachusetts did not prohibit assignment of the husband’s wages. Moreover, Massachusetts law was not controlling because New York had the most significant relationship with the assignment. Therefore, the court ruled in favor of the wife.

Therefore, the validity of an assignment is determined by looking to the law of the forum with the most significant relationship to the assignment itself. To determine the applicable law of assignments, the court must look to the law of the state which is most significantly related to the principal issue before it.

Assignment of Contractual Rights:

Generally, the law allows the assignment of a contractual right unless the substitution of rights would materially change the duty of the obligor, materially increase the burden or risk imposed on the obligor by the contract, materially impair the chance of obtaining return performance, or materially reduce the value of the performance to the obligor. Restat 2d of Contracts, § 317(2)(a). This presumes that the underlying agreement is silent on the right to assign.

If the contract specifically precludes assignment, the contractual right is not assignable. Whether a contract is assignable is a matter of contractual intent and one must look to the language used by the parties to discern that intent.

In the absence of an express provision to the contrary, the rights and duties under a bilateral executory contract that does not involve personal skill, trust, or confidence may be assigned without the consent of the other party. But note that an assignment is invalid if it would materially alter the other party’s duties and responsibilities. Once an assignment is effective, the assignee stands in the shoes of the assignor and assumes all of assignor’s rights. Hence, after a valid assignment, the assignor’s right to performance is extinguished, transferred to assignee, and the assignee possesses the same rights, benefits, and remedies assignor once possessed. Robert Lamb Hart Planners & Architects v. Evergreen, Ltd. , 787 F. Supp. 753 (S.D. Ohio 1992).

On the other hand, an assignee’s right against the obligor is subject to “all of the limitations of the assignor’s right, all defenses thereto, and all set-offs and counterclaims which would have been available against the assignor had there been no assignment, provided that these defenses and set-offs are based on facts existing at the time of the assignment.” See Robert Lamb , case, above.

The power of the contract to restrict assignment is broad. Usually, contractual provisions that restrict assignment of the contract without the consent of the obligor are valid and enforceable, even when there is statutory authorization for the assignment. The restriction of the power to assign is often ineffective unless the restriction is expressly and precisely stated. Anti-assignment clauses are effective only if they contain clear, unambiguous language of prohibition. Anti-assignment clauses protect only the obligor and do not affect the transaction between the assignee and assignor.

Usually, a prohibition against the assignment of a contract does not prevent an assignment of the right to receive payments due, unless circumstances indicate the contrary. Moreover, the contracting parties cannot, by a mere non-assignment provision, prevent the effectual alienation of the right to money which becomes due under the contract.

A contract provision prohibiting or restricting an assignment may be waived, or a party may so act as to be estopped from objecting to the assignment, such as by effectively ratifying the assignment. The power to void an assignment made in violation of an anti-assignment clause may be waived either before or after the assignment. See our article on Contracts.

Noncompete Clauses and Assignments:

Of critical import to most buyers of businesses is the ability to ensure that key employees of the business being purchased cannot start a competing company. Some states strictly limit such clauses, some do allow them. California does restrict noncompete clauses, only allowing them under certain circumstances. A common question in those states that do allow them is whether such rights can be assigned to a new party, such as the buyer of the buyer.

A covenant not to compete, also called a non-competitive clause, is a formal agreement prohibiting one party from performing similar work or business within a designated area for a specified amount of time. This type of clause is generally included in contracts between employer and employee and contracts between buyer and seller of a business.

Many workers sign a covenant not to compete as part of the paperwork required for employment. It may be a separate document similar to a non-disclosure agreement, or buried within a number of other clauses in a contract. A covenant not to compete is generally legal and enforceable, although there are some exceptions and restrictions.

Whenever a company recruits skilled employees, it invests a significant amount of time and training. For example, it often takes years before a research chemist or a design engineer develops a workable knowledge of a company’s product line, including trade secrets and highly sensitive information. Once an employee gains this knowledge and experience, however, all sorts of things can happen. The employee could work for the company until retirement, accept a better offer from a competing company or start up his or her own business.

A covenant not to compete may cover a number of potential issues between employers and former employees. Many companies spend years developing a local base of customers or clients. It is important that this customer base not fall into the hands of local competitors. When an employee signs a covenant not to compete, he or she usually agrees not to use insider knowledge of the company’s customer base to disadvantage the company. The covenant not to compete often defines a broad geographical area considered off-limits to former employees, possibly tens or hundreds of miles.

Another area of concern covered by a covenant not to compete is a potential ‘brain drain’. Some high-level former employees may seek to recruit others from the same company to create new competition. Retention of employees, especially those with unique skills or proprietary knowledge, is vital for most companies, so a covenant not to compete may spell out definite restrictions on the hiring or recruiting of employees.

A covenant not to compete may also define a specific amount of time before a former employee can seek employment in a similar field. Many companies offer a substantial severance package to make sure former employees are financially solvent until the terms of the covenant not to compete have been met.

Because the use of a covenant not to compete can be controversial, a handful of states, including California, have largely banned this type of contractual language. The legal enforcement of these agreements falls on individual states, and many have sided with the employee during arbitration or litigation. A covenant not to compete must be reasonable and specific, with defined time periods and coverage areas. If the agreement gives the company too much power over former employees or is ambiguous, state courts may declare it to be overbroad and therefore unenforceable. In such case, the employee would be free to pursue any employment opportunity, including working for a direct competitor or starting up a new company of his or her own.

It has been held that an employee’s covenant not to compete is assignable where one business is transferred to another, that a merger does not constitute an assignment of a covenant not to compete, and that a covenant not to compete is enforceable by a successor to the employer where the assignment does not create an added burden of employment or other disadvantage to the employee. However, in some states such as Hawaii, it has also been held that a covenant not to compete is not assignable and under various statutes for various reasons that such covenants are not enforceable against an employee by a successor to the employer. Hawaii v. Gannett Pac. Corp. , 99 F. Supp. 2d 1241 (D. Haw. 1999)

It is vital to obtain the relevant law of the applicable state before drafting or attempting to enforce assignment rights in this particular area.

Conclusion:

In the current business world of fast changing structures, agreements, employees and projects, the ability to assign rights and obligations is essential to allow flexibility and adjustment to new situations. Conversely, the ability to hold a contracting party into the deal may be essential for the future of a party. Thus, the law of assignments and the restriction on same is a critical aspect of every agreement and every structure. This basic provision is often glanced at by the contracting parties, or scribbled into the deal at the last minute but can easily become the most vital part of the transaction.

As an example, one client of ours came into the office outraged that his co venturer on a sizable exporting agreement, who had excellent connections in Brazil, had elected to pursue another venture instead and assigned the agreement to a party unknown to our client and without the business contacts our client considered vital. When we examined the handwritten agreement our client had drafted in a restaurant in Sao Paolo, we discovered there was no restriction on assignment whatsoever…our client had not even considered that right when drafting the agreement after a full day of work.

One choses who one does business with carefully…to ensure that one’s choice remains the party on the other side of the contract, one must master the ability to negotiate proper assignment provisions.

Founded in 1939, our law firm combines the ability to represent clients in domestic or international matters with the personal interaction with clients that is traditional to a long established law firm.

What sectors are you interested in?

We can use your selection to show you more of the content that you’re interested in.

Sign-up and we’ll remember your preferences

Sign-up to follow topics, sectors, people and also have the option to receive a weekly update of lastest news across your areas of interest.

Got an account already? Sign in

Want to speak to an advisor from your closest office?

Out-law / your daily need-to-know.

Out-Law Guide 4 min. read

Assignment and novation

19 Aug 2011, 4:40 pm

Assignment involves the transfer of an interest or benefit from one person to another. However the 'burden', or obligations, under a contract cannot be transferred.

Assignment in construction contracts

As noted above only the benefits of a contract can be assigned - not the burden. In the context of a building contract:

the employer may assign its right to have the works constructed, and its right to sue the contractor in the event that the works are defective – but not its obligation to pay for the works;
the contractor may assign its right to payment of the contract sum - but not its obligation to construct the works in accordance with the building contract or its obligation to meet any valid claims, for example for defects.

After assignment, the assignee is entitled to the benefit of the contract and to bring proceedings against the other contracting party to enforce its rights. The assignor still owes obligations to the other contracting party, and will remain liable to perform any part of the contract that still has to be fulfilled since the burden cannot be assigned. In practice, what usually happens is that the assignee takes over the performance of the contract with effect from assignment and the assignor will generally ask to be indemnified against any breach or failure to perform by the assignee. The assignor will remain liable for any past liabilities incurred before the assignment.

In construction contracts, the issue of assignment often arises in looking at whether collateral warranties granted to parties outside of the main construction contract can be assigned.

Funders may require the developer to assign contractual rights against the contractor and the design team as security to the funder, as well as the benefit of performance bonds and parent company guarantees. The developer may assign such rights to the purchaser either during or after completion of the construction phase.

Contractual assignment provisions

Many contracts exclude or qualify the right to assignment, and the courts have confirmed that a clause which provides that a party to a contract may not assign the benefit of that contract without the consent of the other party is legally effective and will extend to all rights and benefits arising under the contract, including the right to any remedies. Other common qualifications on the right to assign include:

a restriction on assignment without the consent of the other party, whether or not such consent is not to be unreasonably withheld or delayed;
only one of the parties may assign;
only certain rights may be assigned – for example, warranties and indemnities may be excluded;
a limit on the number of assignments - as is almost always the case in respect of collateral warranties;
a right to assign only to a named assignee or class of assignee.

Note that in some agreements where there is a prohibition on assignment, it is sometimes possible to find the reservation of specific rights to create a trust or establish security over the subject matter of the agreement instead.

Legal and equitable assignment

The Law of Property Act creates the ability to legally assign a debt or any other chose in action where the debtor, trustee or other relevant person is notified in writing. If the assignment complied with the formalities in the Act it is a legal assignment, otherwise it will be an equitable assignment.

Some transfers can only take effect as an equitable assignment, for example:

an oral assignment;
an assignment by way of charge;
an assignment of only part of the chosen in action;
an assignment of which notice has not been given to the debtor;
an agreement to assign.

If the assignment is equitable rather than legal, the assignor cannot enforce the assigned property in its own name and to do so must join the assignee in any action. This is designed to protect the debtor from later proceedings brought by the assignor or another assignee from enforcing the action without notice of the earlier assignment.

Security assignments

Using assignment as a way of taking security requires special care, as follows:

if the assignment is by way of charge, the assignor retains the right to sue for any loss it suffers caused by a breach of the other contract party;
if there is an outright assignment coupled with an entitlement to a re-assignment back once the secured obligation has been performed, it is an assignment by way of legal mortgage.

Please see our separate Out-Law guide for more information on types of security.

Restrictions on assignment

There are restrictions on the assignment of certain types of interest on public policy grounds, as follows:

certain personal contracts – for example, a contract for the employment of a personal servant or for the benefit of a motor insurance policy cannot be assigned;
a bare cause of action or 'right to sue' where the assignee has no commercial interest in the subject matter of the underlying transaction cannot be assigned;
certain rights conferred by statute – for example, a liquidator's powers to bring wrongful trading proceedings against a director – cannot be assigned;
an assignment of a contract may not necessarily transfer the benefit of an arbitration agreement contained in the contract;
the assignment of certain rights is regulated – for example, the assignment of company shares or copyright.

If you want to transfer the burden of a contract as well as the benefits under it, you have to novate. Like assignment, novation transfers the benefits under a contract but unlike assignment, novation transfers the burden under a contract as well.

In a novation the original contract is extinguished and is replaced by a new one in which a third party takes up rights and obligations which duplicate those of one of the original parties to the contract. Novation does not cancel past rights and obligations under the original contract, although the parties can agree to novate these as well.

Novation is only possible with the consent of the original contracting parties as well as the new party. Consideration (the 'price' paid, whether financial or otherwise, by the new party in return for the contract being novated to it) must be provided for this new contract unless the novation is documented in a deed signed by all three parties.

Construction Contracts
Construction
Government and public sector
Real Estate
Technology, Science & Industry
United Kingdom

Contact an adviser

Graham Alty

Latest News

Indian supreme court shows pro-arbitration stance in jurisdictional arguments, dutch employment budget sets out significant changes to employment law, using civil courts in england to recover assets and losses after employee fraud, uk vat domestic reverse charge for buildings and construction, qatar government remote working initiative ‘demonstrates progressive efforts’, don't miss a thing.

Sign-up to receive the latest news, analysis and events direct to your e-mail inbox

Out-Law News

Bank of England tells firms to test for ‘extreme but plausible’ service disruption

Operators of financial markets infrastructure (FMIs), such as payment systems, have been advised to anticipate – and undertake robust testing around – “extreme but plausible” scenarios that could cause disruption to services, ahead of new rules on operational resilience taking effect in the UK next year.

UK government to ‘fine-tune’ NSI regime following consultation

The UK government will seek to “fine-tune” its national security investment screening regime to stay ahead of potential national security threats following a recent consultation outcome and in light of recent geopolitical developments, it has announced.

UK ‘cookie law’ enforcement not dependent on complaints

Businesses should expect the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to undertake more ‘own initiative’ investigations into compliance with UK ‘cookie laws’ in the months and years ahead, an expert in data protection and privacy law has said.

Sectors and what we do

Sectors we work in.

Financial Services
Infrastructure
Your assets
Your company
Your finance
Your legal team and resource
Your people
Your risks and regulatory environment

Your privacy matters to us

We use cookies that are essential for our site to work. To improve our site, we would like to use additional cookies to help us understand how visitors use it, measure traffic to our site from social media platforms and to personalise your experience. Some of the cookies that we use are provided by third parties. To accept all cookies click ‘accept all’. To reject all optional cookies click ‘reject all’. To choose which optional cookies to allow click ‘cookie settings’. This tool uses a cookie to remember your choices. Please visit our cookie policy for more information.

More Blog Popular
Who's Who Legal
Instruct Counsel
My newsfeed
Save & file
View original
Follow Please login to follow content.

add to folder:

My saved (default)

Register now for your free, tailored, daily legal newsfeed service.

Find out more about Lexology or get in touch by visiting our About page.

Assignments - a brief legal overview and pitfalls to beware!

Many patents will see a change in ownership at some stage in their lives. Assignments are commonplace and occur for a variety of reasons; for example, in the context of a business sale where a buyer purchases all of the assets (including intellectual property assets) of a business from the vendor. Another is in the context of intra-group reorganisations.

Assignments can also occur as part of settlement of a dispute. This article outlines some of the pitfalls of which you should be aware when assigning patents; many of which can be averted by careful drafting of the assignment agreement.

Unless the assignment is intra-group, there will usually be some distance between what the assignee wants (typically, a variety of representations, warranties and indemnities in respect of the assigned rights) and what the assignor is prepared to give. This is a commercial decision and hence no two negotiated patent assignments will be identical.

Consideration

Under English law, to be a valid contract there must be consideration which is either money or money's worth. This is often overlooked but a key point required for the assignment agreement to be legally binding. Whilst the acceptance of mutual obligations may suffice, it is simplest to have a sum of money (even if only for £1). An alternative is to execute the assignment as a deed, though there are specific formalities which must be followed for the agreement to be a deed. Of course, if the parties agree to nominal consideration (eg, £1), it is important that this small amount is actually paid to the assignor.

An assignment of a UK patent (or application) must be in writing and signed by the assignor. It used to be the case that an assignment of a UK patent (or application) would need to be signed by both parties, however the law was changed in 2005. In reality, both parties will usually sign the assignment agreement. Where one or both of the parties is an individual in their personal capacity or a foreign entity, special 'testimonial' provisions are required; for example the signature to the assignment may need to be witnessed.

The assignment

English law distinguishes two types of assignment: legal and equitable. To assign the legal interest in something means that you have assigned simply the title to that property and not the right to exercise the rights inherent in it. This is the equitable (beneficial) interest and if this is not also assigned with the legal title, this can result in a split in ownership. Unless the parties specifically agree otherwise, legal and beneficial ownership should always be assigned together. It is possible to have co-assignees (ie, co-owners) but the terms of the co-ownership will need to be carefully considered.

It is possible to assign the right to bring proceedings for past infringements in the UK, but not in some other jurisdictions. Where non-UK rights are involved, local advice may be required as to whether such an assignment would be enforceable as against a prior infringer. This potential uncertainty makes a robust further assurance clause even more desirable (see below), to ensure the assignor's co-operation after completion of the assignment.

The assignee will also typically argue for (and the assignor will typically resist) a transfer with 'full title guarantee', as this implies as a matter of law certain covenants: that the assignor is entitled to sell the property; that the assignor will do all it reasonably can, at its own expense, to vest title to the property in the assignee; and that the property is free from various third party rights.

In terms of European patents (EP), it is important to remember that ownership of an EP application is determined under by the inventor/applicant's local law, rather than under European patent law. This means that a formal, written assignment agreement should be executed to ensure that the applicant is entitled to ownership of the patent application, for example in cases where the work undertaken was done by a consultant or where local law dictates that the owner is the inventor(s). An assignment should include assignment of the right to claim priority, as well as the right to the invention and any patent applications. This need to obtain an effective assignment of the application (and right to claim priority) is particularly important where a priority application has been made in the name of the inventor. If such an assignment is not executed before applications which claim priority from earlier cases (for example, PCT applications) are filed, the right to ownership and/or the right to claim priority may be lost.

Don't forget tax

Currently, there is no stamp duty payable on the assignment of intellectual property in the UK. However, particularly for assignments which include foreign intellectual property rights, there can be considerable tax implications in transferring ownership of intellectual property rights in some countries and it is always prudent to check that the transfer will not result in excessive tax liabilities for you.

Update the register

Registered rights need to be updated at the patent offices. You will need to decide who pays for this: in the case of one patent, it is a simple process, however in the case of a whole portfolio, the costs can be considerable. Remember, if you ever need to take any action on a patent you own, you need to ensure you are the registered owner of that right at the applicable office.

In the UK, assignments can be registered but there is no statutory requirement to do so. In the case of international assignments, local offices may require recordal of the assignment. In any event, it is desirable for an assignee to ensure that the transaction is recorded. Section 68 of the UK Patents Act provides that an assignee who does not register the assignment within six months runs the risk of not being able to claim costs or expenses in infringement proceedings for an infringement that occurred before registration of the assignment, although recent case-law has reduced this risk somewhat.

Further assurance

The assignee will typically take charge of recordals to the Patents Offices; however they will often need the assignor's help in doing so. A 'further assurance' clause is a key element of the assignment from an assignee's point of view both for this purpose and for assisting in the defence and enforcement of patents or applications for registration. On the other hand, the assignor will typically seek to qualify its further assurance covenant by limiting it to what the assignee may reasonably require, and that anything done should be at the assignee's expense. An assignor should also require that recordals are done promptly to minimise their future correspondence from patent offices.

International transactions

In transactions which involve the transfer of patents in various countries, the parties can execute a global assignment which covers all the patents being transferred, or there can be separate assignments for each country. The former, global assignment, is usually preferred however this will frequently need to be supplemented by further confirmatory assignments in forms prescribed by the relevant international patent registries. As noted above, the preparation and execution of such assignments can be time-consuming and costly, hence the need to decide in advance who bears the cost of such recordals, and the assignee should insist on a further assurance provision.

Filed under

United Kingdom
D Young & Co LLP

Related practical resources PRO

Checklist Checklist: Completing a data incident response plan assessment (USA)
Checklist Checklist: International supply of goods contracts (USA)
Checklist Checklist: Conducting an antitrust audit (USA)

Related research hubs

Search Menu
Sign in through your institution
Browse content in Arts and Humanities
Browse content in Archaeology
Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Archaeology
Archaeological Methodology and Techniques
Archaeology by Region
Archaeology of Religion
Archaeology of Trade and Exchange
Biblical Archaeology
Contemporary and Public Archaeology
Environmental Archaeology
Historical Archaeology
History and Theory of Archaeology
Industrial Archaeology
Landscape Archaeology
Mortuary Archaeology
Prehistoric Archaeology
Underwater Archaeology
Urban Archaeology
Zooarchaeology
Browse content in Architecture
Architectural Structure and Design
History of Architecture
Residential and Domestic Buildings
Theory of Architecture
Browse content in Art
Art Subjects and Themes
History of Art
Industrial and Commercial Art
Theory of Art
Biographical Studies
Byzantine Studies
Browse content in Classical Studies
Classical History
Classical Philosophy
Classical Mythology
Classical Numismatics
Classical Literature
Classical Reception
Classical Art and Architecture
Classical Oratory and Rhetoric
Greek and Roman Papyrology
Greek and Roman Epigraphy
Greek and Roman Law
Greek and Roman Archaeology
Late Antiquity
Religion in the Ancient World
Social History
Digital Humanities
Browse content in History
Colonialism and Imperialism
Diplomatic History
Environmental History
Genealogy, Heraldry, Names, and Honours
Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
Historical Geography
History by Period
History of Emotions
History of Agriculture
History of Education
History of Gender and Sexuality
Industrial History
Intellectual History
International History
Labour History
Legal and Constitutional History
Local and Family History
Maritime History
Military History
National Liberation and Post-Colonialism
Oral History
Political History
Public History
Regional and National History
Revolutions and Rebellions
Slavery and Abolition of Slavery
Social and Cultural History
Theory, Methods, and Historiography
Urban History
World History
Browse content in Language Teaching and Learning
Language Learning (Specific Skills)
Language Teaching Theory and Methods
Browse content in Linguistics
Applied Linguistics
Cognitive Linguistics
Computational Linguistics
Forensic Linguistics
Grammar, Syntax and Morphology
Historical and Diachronic Linguistics
History of English
Language Evolution
Language Reference
Language Acquisition
Language Variation
Language Families
Lexicography
Linguistic Anthropology
Linguistic Theories
Linguistic Typology
Phonetics and Phonology
Psycholinguistics
Sociolinguistics
Translation and Interpretation
Writing Systems
Browse content in Literature
Bibliography
Children's Literature Studies
Literary Studies (Romanticism)
Literary Studies (American)
Literary Studies (Asian)
Literary Studies (European)
Literary Studies (Eco-criticism)
Literary Studies (Modernism)
Literary Studies - World
Literary Studies (1500 to 1800)
Literary Studies (19th Century)
Literary Studies (20th Century onwards)
Literary Studies (African American Literature)
Literary Studies (British and Irish)
Literary Studies (Early and Medieval)
Literary Studies (Fiction, Novelists, and Prose Writers)
Literary Studies (Gender Studies)
Literary Studies (Graphic Novels)
Literary Studies (History of the Book)
Literary Studies (Plays and Playwrights)
Literary Studies (Poetry and Poets)
Literary Studies (Postcolonial Literature)
Literary Studies (Queer Studies)
Literary Studies (Science Fiction)
Literary Studies (Travel Literature)
Literary Studies (War Literature)
Literary Studies (Women's Writing)
Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
Mythology and Folklore
Shakespeare Studies and Criticism
Browse content in Media Studies
Browse content in Music
Applied Music
Dance and Music
Ethics in Music
Ethnomusicology
Gender and Sexuality in Music
Medicine and Music
Music Cultures
Music and Media
Music and Religion
Music and Culture
Music Education and Pedagogy
Music Theory and Analysis
Musical Scores, Lyrics, and Libretti
Musical Structures, Styles, and Techniques
Musicology and Music History
Performance Practice and Studies
Race and Ethnicity in Music
Sound Studies
Browse content in Performing Arts
Browse content in Philosophy
Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art
Epistemology
Feminist Philosophy
History of Western Philosophy
Meta-Philosophy
Metaphysics
Moral Philosophy
Non-Western Philosophy
Philosophy of Language
Philosophy of Mind
Philosophy of Perception
Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Action
Philosophy of Law
Philosophy of Religion
Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic
Practical Ethics
Social and Political Philosophy
Browse content in Religion
Biblical Studies
Christianity
East Asian Religions
History of Religion
Judaism and Jewish Studies
Qumran Studies
Religion and Education
Religion and Health
Religion and Politics
Religion and Science
Religion and Law
Religion and Art, Literature, and Music
Religious Studies
Browse content in Society and Culture
Cookery, Food, and Drink
Cultural Studies
Customs and Traditions
Ethical Issues and Debates
Hobbies, Games, Arts and Crafts
Natural world, Country Life, and Pets
Popular Beliefs and Controversial Knowledge
Sports and Outdoor Recreation
Technology and Society
Travel and Holiday
Visual Culture
Browse content in Law
Arbitration
Browse content in Company and Commercial Law
Commercial Law
Company Law
Browse content in Comparative Law
Systems of Law
Competition Law
Browse content in Constitutional and Administrative Law
Government Powers
Judicial Review
Local Government Law
Military and Defence Law
Parliamentary and Legislative Practice
Construction Law
Contract Law
Browse content in Criminal Law
Criminal Procedure
Criminal Evidence Law
Sentencing and Punishment
Employment and Labour Law
Environment and Energy Law
Browse content in Financial Law
Banking Law
Insolvency Law
History of Law
Human Rights and Immigration
Intellectual Property Law
Browse content in International Law
Private International Law and Conflict of Laws
Public International Law
IT and Communications Law
Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law
Law and Politics
Law and Society
Browse content in Legal System and Practice
Courts and Procedure
Legal Skills and Practice
Legal System - Costs and Funding
Primary Sources of Law
Regulation of Legal Profession
Medical and Healthcare Law
Browse content in Policing
Criminal Investigation and Detection
Police and Security Services
Police Procedure and Law
Police Regional Planning
Browse content in Property Law
Personal Property Law
Restitution
Study and Revision
Terrorism and National Security Law
Browse content in Trusts Law
Wills and Probate or Succession
Browse content in Medicine and Health
Browse content in Allied Health Professions
Arts Therapies
Clinical Science
Dietetics and Nutrition
Occupational Therapy
Operating Department Practice
Physiotherapy
Radiography
Speech and Language Therapy
Browse content in Anaesthetics
General Anaesthesia
Clinical Neuroscience
Browse content in Clinical Medicine
Acute Medicine
Cardiovascular Medicine
Clinical Genetics
Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Dermatology
Endocrinology and Diabetes
Gastroenterology
Genito-urinary Medicine
Geriatric Medicine
Infectious Diseases
Medical Toxicology
Medical Oncology
Pain Medicine
Palliative Medicine
Rehabilitation Medicine
Respiratory Medicine and Pulmonology
Rheumatology
Sleep Medicine
Sports and Exercise Medicine
Community Medical Services
Critical Care
Emergency Medicine
Forensic Medicine
Haematology
History of Medicine
Browse content in Medical Skills
Clinical Skills
Communication Skills
Nursing Skills
Surgical Skills
Browse content in Medical Dentistry
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Paediatric Dentistry
Restorative Dentistry and Orthodontics
Surgical Dentistry
Medical Ethics
Medical Statistics and Methodology
Browse content in Neurology
Clinical Neurophysiology
Neuropathology

Primary tabs

Assign is the act of transferring rights , property , or other benefits to another party (the assignee ) from the party who holds such benefits under contract (the assignor). This concept is used in both contract and property law .

Contract Law

Under contract law, when one party assigns a contract , the assignment represents both: (1) an assignment of rights; and (2) a delegation of duties .

For example, if A contracts with B to teach B guitar for $50, A can assign this contract to C.
Here, A has both: (1) assigned A’s rights under the contract to the $50; and (2) delegated A’s duty to teach guitar, to C.
In this example, A is both the “assignor” and the “delegee” who delegates the duties to another (C), C is known as the “ obligor ” who must perform the obligations to the assignee , and B is the assignee who is owed duties and is liable to the obligor.

Assigning of Rights/Duties Under Contract Law

There are a few notable rules regarding assignments under contract law.

First, if an individual has not yet secured the contract to perform duties to another, they cannot assign their future right to an assignee.

That is, if A has not yet contracted with B to teach B guitar, A cannot assign their rights to C.

Second, rights cannot be assigned when they materially change the obligor’s duty and rights.

Third, the obligor can sue the assignee directly if the assignee does not pay them.

Following the previous example, this means that C ( obligor ) can sue B ( assignee ) if C teaches guitar to B, but B does not pay C $50 in return.

Delegation of Duties

If the promised performance requires a rare genius or skill, then the delegee cannot delegate it to the obligor. It can only be delegated if the promised performance is more commonplace. Further, an obligee can sue if the assignee does not perform. However, the delegee is secondarily liable unless there has been an express release of the delegee.

Meaning if B does want C to teach guitar but C refuses to, then B can sue C. If C still refuses to perform, then B can compel A to fulfill the duties under secondary liability.

Lastly, a related concept is novation , which is when a new obligor substitutes and releases an old obligor. If novation occurs, then the original obligor’s duties are wiped out. Novation requires an original obligee’s consent .

Property Law

Under property law , assignment typically arises in landlord-tenant situations.

For example, A might be renting from landlord B but wants another party (C) to take over the property.
In this scenario, A might choose between assigning and subleasing the property to C.
If assigning , A would give C the entire balance of the term , with no reversion to anyone; whereas if subleasing , A would give C the property for a limited period of the remaining term.
Under assignment, C would have privity of estate with the landlord while under a sublease, C would not.

[Last updated in June of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team ]

business law
property & real estate law
business sectors
commercial transactions
property law
wex articles
wex definitions

Ask the publishers to restore access to 500,000+ books.

Internet Archive Audio

Grateful Dead
Old Time Radio
78 RPMs and Cylinder Recordings
Audio Books & Poetry
Computers, Technology and Science
Music, Arts & Culture
News & Public Affairs
Spirituality & Religion
Radio News Archive

Flickr Commons
Occupy Wall Street Flickr
NASA Images
Solar System Collection
Ames Research Center

All Software
Old School Emulation
MS-DOS Games
Historical Software
Classic PC Games
Software Library
Kodi Archive and Support File
Vintage Software
CD-ROM Software
CD-ROM Software Library
Software Sites
Tucows Software Library
Shareware CD-ROMs
Software Capsules Compilation
CD-ROM Images
ZX Spectrum
DOOM Level CD

Smithsonian Libraries
FEDLINK (US)
Lincoln Collection
American Libraries
Canadian Libraries
Universal Library
Project Gutenberg
Children's Library
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Books by Language
Additional Collections

Prelinger Archives
Democracy Now!
Occupy Wall Street
TV NSA Clip Library
Animation & Cartoons
Arts & Music
Computers & Technology
Cultural & Academic Films
Ephemeral Films
Sports Videos
Videogame Videos
Youth Media

Search the history of over 866 billion web pages on the Internet.

Mobile Apps

Wayback Machine (iOS)
Wayback Machine (Android)

Browser Extensions

Archive-it subscription.

Explore the Collections
Build Collections

Save Page Now

Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future.

Please enter a valid web address

Donate Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape

The law of assignment

Bookreader item preview, share or embed this item, flag this item for.

Graphic Violence
Explicit Sexual Content
Hate Speech
Misinformation/Disinformation
Marketing/Phishing/Advertising
Misleading/Inaccurate/Missing Metadata

plus-circle Add Review comment Reviews

108 Previews

8 Favorites

DOWNLOAD OPTIONS

No suitable files to display here.

PDF access not available for this item.

IN COLLECTIONS

Uploaded by station65.cebu on August 1, 2022

Assessing Assignability: Transferring Contractual Rights or Obligations

Practical law legal update 5-546-6326 (approx. 7 pages).

An intended transfer is of the type that is prohibited by law or public policy (see Practice Note, Assignability of Commercial Contracts: Statutory and Public Policy Exceptions ).
The parties expressly agree to restrict transferability (see Practice Note, Assignability of Commercial Contracts: Contractual Anti-assignment and Anti-delegation Clauses ).
Breaching the contract.
Making an ineffective and invalid transfer.

Distinguishing Between Assignment and Delegation

The assignment of rights to receive performance.
The delegation of duties to perform.

Characteristics of Assignments

The right to receive performance from the assignor.
Its remedies against the assignor for any failure to perform.

Characteristics of Delegation

The general rule governing assignment and delegation.

Most assignments of contractual rights.
Many delegations of contractual performance.
Assignments and delegations that violate public policy or law.
Assignments of rights or delegations of performance that are personal in nature.
Contracts with anti-assignment or anti-delegation clauses.

Contracts That Present the Greatest Challenges

Personal services contracts (see Personal Services Contracts ).
Non-exclusive intellectual property licenses (see Intellectual Property Licenses ).
Contracts with anti-assignment and anti-delegation clauses (see Contracts With Anti-assignment and Anti-delegation Contract Clauses ).

Personal Services Contracts

Intellectual property licenses, contracts with anti-assignment and anti-delegation clauses, is a change of control an assignment.

Contains an anti-assignment and anti-delegation clause expressly restricting a change of control.
States that a change in management or equity ownership of the contracting party is deemed to be an assignment.

When Does an Involuntary Transfer Trigger a Restricted Transfer?

A contractual anti-assignment and anti delegation clause applies to a specific type or transfer.
The transfer is permissible, with or without a contractual anti-assignment and anti-delegation provision.

Drafting and Negotiating Anti-assignment and Anti-delegation Clauses

Directly addressing assignment of rights and delegation of performance.
Clarifying the universe of restricted transfers.
Designating the non-transferring party's consent rights.
Specifying any exceptions to non-transferability.
Requiring notification of a permitted transfer.
Including a declaration that impermissible transfers are void.
Adding a novation to the anti-assignment and anti-delegation provision.
General Contract and Boilerplate
General Commercial

Our systems are now restored following recent technical disruption, and we’re working hard to catch up on publishing. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Find out more: https://www.cambridge.org/universitypress/about-us/news-and-blogs/cambridge-university-press-publishing-update-following-technical-disruption

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings .

Login Alert

> Journals
> The Cambridge Law Journal
> Volume 81 Issue 3
> NOVATION AND ADVANCE CONSENT

Article contents

Introduction
Consent in Novation
The Advance Consent Proposition
Of Risk and Reward

NOVATION AND ADVANCE CONSENT

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2022

Professor Goode once observed that “Novation need not be left to ad hoc agreement; it is open to the parties to provide for it in advance and in particular to establish a contractual mechanism by which novation takes place automatically on the occurrence of a designated act or event”. This deceptively straightforward proposition is examined in the present article. It explores the legal footing for, and the risks in adopting a pristine version of, the proposition, and considers possible safeguards that may be incorporated within the process of scrutiny, if in any case there arises concern over the effectiveness of a novation that is undertaken pursuant to consent given in advance.

I. Introduction

For a time the law of assignment and novation seemed harmonious and complete. It generally reflected and promoted commercial practices, and there were rules that were clearly directive, if overly categorical on occasion. But lately it has taken on a resemblance to the proverbial duck. Despite carrying necessary adaptations to suit modern-day commerce, the underlying theoretical discipline has been paddling furiously to keep it afloat. Footnote 1

The purpose of this article is to examine one of those deceptively comfortable positions. Writing in 1995, Professor Roy Goode Q.C. observed that “[n]ovation need not be left to ad hoc agreement; it is open to the parties to provide for it in advance and in particular to establish a contractual mechanism by which novation takes place automatically on the occurrence of a designated act or event.” Footnote 2

Although put forward without supporting authority, this “advance consent” proposition unquestionably recorded a contemporary commercial practice. One example was the trading of loans, usually syndicated, on the UK secondary market beginning in the late 1980s. A loan agreement frequently contained a term allowing the lender at some future time to novate the agreement to a third-party bank or financial institution simply by delivering a prescribed document to a designated person (typically an agent bank). Thereafter the lender was released from its rights and obligations under the agreement, which would be novated to the incoming bank or institution. The borrower, unmoved through all of this, was not required to provide ad hoc consent to the novation, since the issue of consent was already covered by the antecedent term in the loan agreement.

What constitutes a novation is clear enough in English law, as is the general principle that parties must strictly perform the terms of their contracts. But put the two together as Goode suggests and one confronts a blurrier picture. The precise legal mechanism by which a subsequent novation is made effective pursuant to a prior agreement is theoretically intriguing. But that is not even the main difficulty, which lies in identifying the abuse to which the mechanism can be put and in devising the appropriate controls to be imposed. As we will see, the insalubrious aspects have not attracted judicial attention for the most part. Footnote 3

This article examines the legal footing on which the operation of the advance consent proposition rests. It newly explores the risks in adopting a pristine version of the advance consent proposition in the law of novation and considers whether there are safeguards that should be embedded within the process of scrutiny, if in any case there arises concern over the effectiveness of a novation that is undertaken pursuant to consent given in advance. These issues take on significance in light of the increasing frequency at which clauses are used in modern times, particularly in the commercial space, to cater for a party's prospective consent to a later novation. But first, before proceeding any further, we must consider the novation process and some developments that have attenuated its more formal elements over the years.

II. Consent in Novation

Many apprehend novation in a functional way and in contrast with assignment. Suppose A and B are the initial parties to a contract, and C is a stranger to them. English law generally allows B to assign its rights but not its obligations under the contract to C . Footnote 4 If B desires to “transfer” such rights and obligations it must obtain the consent, not just of C , but also of A , the unchanged party who takes the benefit of the performance of those obligations. Footnote 5

This “transfer” is formally termed a substitutive novation and is itself a contract involving all of those persons. Footnote 6 In strict legal terms that results in the extinguishment of the original contract between A and B and the creation of a new contract between A and C . The overall effect is B 's transferring the whole contract (including the obligations) to C , who accepts such transfer and agrees to perform the contract (and the obligations); and A 's agreeing to this transfer and to look to C for the performance of those obligations, and its releasing B from such performance. The mutual acceptances and releases constitute the necessary consideration passing from each of them. Footnote 7

A crucial element here is the requisite consent from each of A and C , encapsulated within their respective acceptances and agreement as described above. C 's consent to the novation is obviously vital as B 's obligations cannot generally be forcibly imposed on it. Intuitively, also, A 's consent to the novation is required; otherwise, B could unilaterally shift its obligations to C , who might be insolvent or simply someone with whom A did not want to contract. Upon deeper reflection, however, the inherent freedom to select one's contracting partners cannot be the sole reason for imposing a consent requirement. That has not stopped English law from recognising an assignment of a contractual right to performance without the obligor's consent; notice to the obligor suffices to bind it to the assignee. Footnote 8 Instead, a somewhat consequentialist approach has been adopted on consent. Where a unilateral assignment of rights is permissible, it is said that the party who remains unchanged (i.e. the obligor) cannot object because it is all the same to the obligor who should receive its performance so long as its obligation is eventually discharged; Footnote 9 but in a hypothesised unilateral “transfer” of obligations , the unchanged party (i.e. the obligee) may validly object because it has a right to performance from the counterparty it selected, whom may have had unique characteristics that factored into its choice. Footnote 10

Focussing on A 's consent, that must obviously be in substance to permit the novation of the contract (including the obligations therein) from B to C . Footnote 11 The time at which such consent may be provided is less clear. Although the latest moment is at the point of novation itself, it is conceivable – indeed it commonly happens – that there is a period of time between when consent is given and when the novation takes effect, such as where A , B and C execute an agreement providing, in terms, for the novation of an identified contract to become effective only at a later date upon satisfaction of a condition. Footnote 12 In this scenario the validity of A 's consent, contained in the novation agreement, should be above challenge. Provided that all the parties are identified in the agreement and the terms of the novation are certain and complete, the delay in effectiveness is but a mechanical aspect of the novation process and ought not to vitiate A 's consent, which remains proximately connected to the ultimate event of novation. Nor should the reasons for the interregnum be of legal moment. It would cause consternation if the courts were to insist on A 's consent being valid only if given at the effective time of novation.

Discussion of the obligee's consent is therefore framed by two primary inquiries: was consent given to the novation in question, and was that consent still valid at the effective time of novation? The outer limits of this requirement were soon explored. In addition to Goode, whose views have been mentioned, Justine Kirby theorised that an express term in the contract could enable B to subsequently “transfer” the contract (inclusive of rights and obligations) to C without needing A 's consent at the time of the transfer. She reasoned that A would, in a broader sense, have already provided its agreement to a transfer – albeit probably to transfers in general rather than a particular transfer – at the time of the original contract rather than at the time of transfer. Footnote 13 Kirby concluded: “[t]here is no compelling reason why a suitably worded prospective substitution provision should not enable a party to shed both its rights and obligations where these are assumed by another person.” Footnote 14

One last modern trend deserves mention. Given the state of English law in the late twentieth century, the only fail-safe way of “transferring” contractual obligations was to obtain the obligee's unqualified consent to a novation. The cumbrousness of the process eventually led commercial people to experiment with diluting the absolute nature of the consent requirement. For instance, after acknowledging that the obligee's consent had to be obtained for a novation, a contract term might state either that such consent was not to be unreasonably withheld, Footnote 15 that such consent was deemed to be given where the obligee failed to respond within a prescribed period after receiving notice of the obligor's intention to undertake a novation, Footnote 16 or that the obligee had irrevocably appointed the obligor to execute any requisite document on its behalf. Footnote 17 Yet another technique was to incorporate a term providing for the obligee's prospective consent to a later novation – the primary concern of this article. Footnote 18

III. The Advance Consent Proposition

Goode's description of the advance consent proposition (cited at the outset) may not be a comprehensive statement of the law, but it remains an accurate reflection of modern-day practice. Parties indeed purport by the terms of their contracts to agree in advance to the novation of the contract and in particular to establish a contractual mechanism by which novation takes place automatically on the occurrence of a designated act or event. This is usually done where the possibility of a subsequent novation is contemplated by the parties at the time of contracting. Footnote 19

A. Scenarios

One of those possibilities relates to the secondary trading of assets, especially the disposal and acquisition of choses in action. In Habibsons Bank Ltd. v Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd. Footnote 20 it was observed that a term effectively providing for “advance consent” to be given for a novation enabled lending institutions to freely transfer their interests in a syndicated loan to other banks and financial institutions that regularly engaged in investing in those assets. And in addition to generating profit and market liquidity, these types of transfers have a role in the distribution of capital and regulatory risks among participants in financial systems. Footnote 21

The usage of such terms also allows for the more efficient entry and exit of parties who are in long-term contractual relationships. Footnote 22 The archetype is the relationship among partners or shareholders. Partnerships and companies often experience changes in their constitution, such as where existing persons leave and new persons join as partners or shareholders. To avoid recurrent execution of paperwork and formalities, each partner or shareholder gives its prior assent in the relevant partnership or shareholder agreement to the future accession thereto of any person who fulfils the stipulated conditions of entry. Footnote 23

Yet a further motivation for inserting an “advance consent” term is to attain greater flexibility in relation to future allocations of interests within a larger corporate or organisational structure. Footnote 24 A contracting party (such as B , the obligor in our scenario) might desire at a later time to effectively transfer its interest in the contract to a person related to it, usually but not always in the course of a future restructuring or consolidation exercise. Consent from the other party ( A , the obligee) could be viewed as redundant in that case. If, therefore, such a future transfer – called a related party transfer – were already contemplated at the time of execution of the contract, the mechanism therefor could be stipulated in the contract itself. Footnote 25

B. Unilateral Contract Theory

There is consequently some commercial justification for the insertion of a contract term by which one party, A , consents in advance to the other, B , being able to subsequently novate the contract to a stranger, C . But that does not disclose the precise legal footing on which the operation of such a term or the advance consent proposition rests.

In English law that is commonly explained by enlisting the use of unilateral contract theory. An appropriately worded term in the original contract, while setting out the novation mechanism, is viewed as implicitly containing two standing offers as well. The first offer, to discharge that contract upon such conditions as might be set out in the novation mechanism, is made by A to B . The second offer, to conclude a new contract on the terms provided in the novation mechanism, is made by A to all eligible persons in the stated class. Footnote 26 B and C (the putative incoming party) are not obliged to, but may, respectively accept these offers by satisfying and taking the relevant conditions and actions prescribed in the novation mechanism. Acceptance by B of the offer directed to it converts the unilateral contract between A and B into a new synallagmatic contract between them in which they agree to discharge the original contract; while acceptance by C of the offer directed to it converts the unilateral contract between A and C into a new synallagmatic contract between them on the terms provided in the novation mechanism. Footnote 27 Together these synallagmatic contracts constitute the effective novation of the original contract from B to C , and, importantly, no overt action by A is necessary at the time of novation.

Banking law practitioners had postulated a unilateral contract analysis as early as in 1987. Footnote 28 As mentioned, the proposition that an obligee could effectively give its consent to a novation in advance held attraction for secondary debt market participants because it enabled banks and financial institutions to sell and purchase loan interests without the borrower's active involvement. Unsurprisingly, judicial endorsement of this repurposed use of unilateral contracts arrived in a pair of cases dealing with loan interests acquired on the secondary market.

In Argo Fund Ltd. v Essar Steel Ltd. Footnote 29 a borrower had entered into a loan facility agreement with a syndicate of banks for an aggregate principal amount of US$40 million. The facility was fully drawn down. Some years later, an investment company purchased various tranches of that debt amounting to a nominal value of US$29.5 million on the secondary market. The borrower's subsequent failure to repay the debt resulted in a claim for breach of contract brought by the investment company, which argued that it had purchased the relevant loan interests in accordance with the terms of the original facility agreement. These were the relevant terms:

27.1 This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of each party hereto and their respective successors, Transferees and assigns … Any Bank may, subject to the execution and completion of such documents as the Agent may specify and with notice to the Borrower assign all or any of its rights and benefits hereunder or, subject to the payment to the Agent of a transfer fee of US$250, transfer in accordance with clause 27.2 all or any of its rights, benefits and obligations hereunder.

27.2 If any Bank wishes to transfer all or any of its rights, benefits and/or obligations hereunder, then such transfer may be effected by the delivery to the Agent of a duly completed and duly executed Transfer Certificate in which event, on the later of the effective date of transfer (the “Transfer Date”) specified in such Transfer Certificate and the third business day after the date of delivery of such Transfer Certificate to the Agent:

(i) to the extent that in such Transfer Certificate the Bank party thereto seeks to transfer its rights and obligations hereunder, the Borrower and such Bank shall be released from further obligations towards one another hereunder and their respective rights against one another shall be cancelled (such rights and obligations being referred to in this clause 27.2 as “discharged rights and obligations”);

(ii) the Borrower and Transferee party thereto shall assume obligations towards one another and/or acquire rights against one another which differ from the discharged rights and obligations only insofar as the Borrower and the Transferee have assumed and/or acquired the same in place of the Borrower and such Bank; and

(iii) … the Transferee and the other Banks shall acquire the same rights and assume the same obligations between themselves as they would have acquired and assumed had the Transferee been an original party hereto as a Bank with the rights and/or obligations acquired or assumed by it as a result of such transfer. Footnote 30

Aikens J. in the Commercial Court accepted that clauses 27.2(i) and 27.2(ii) had the effect of novating the agreement between the borrower and the original syndicated participant to the borrower and the investment company. Footnote 31 He noted that clause 27.2 in terms permitted the original participant to transfer its rights and obligations simply by delivering a completed Transfer Certificate to the agent bank. Footnote 32 Addressing, then, the borrower's lack of active involvement at the time of such transfer, Aikens J. agreed with the unilateral contract analysis and construed the mechanism in clause 27.2 as incorporating two standing offers by the borrower that could respectively be accepted by the original participant and the investment company. Footnote 33 Reading Aikens J.'s decision, it is clear that not only was he navigating uncharted waters at the time, Footnote 34 he understood his ruling to uphold the effectiveness of clause 27.2 to give imprimatur to the dispensation of the borrower's consent at the time of novation, with the borrower's being required only to have assented to the transfer clause contained in the original facility agreement.

The second case is Habibsons Bank , also involving a syndicated loan arrangement. The borrower had entered into a facility agreement for US$117.5 million to be lent by a syndicate of banks. One of the syndicate banks subsequently agreed to sell US$2 million of its share of the loan to another bank. At around that time, however, the borrower became insolvent and unable to meet its obligations under the facility agreement. This was the catalyst for a dispute between the selling and purchasing banks over the transfer of the US$2 million loan share. The selling bank debited the settlement amount from funds held with it by the purchasing bank, which then brought proceedings to recover that amount. It was argued that because the purported transfer of the loan by the selling bank involved a partial novation of the facility agreement, it was necessary to obtain the borrower's consent to the transaction, and that was never given.

Similar to Argo Fund , the facility agreement in Habibsons Bank contained detailed provisions for the transfer of a lender's rights and obligations. In the Commercial Court, Cooke J. found them to prescribe a clear mechanism for the novation process. He fully recognised what was taking place – a party (here, the borrower) was consenting in advance to a means of novation that would subsequently be binding upon it at the election of another party – and gave three justifications in support of its effectiveness. The parties had expressly agreed on what was to happen and the means by which the novation was to become operative; the bundle of rights and obligations transferred remained the same, so that the borrower could have had no realistic concern as to the identity of any new lender in circumstances where the lenders had already fulfilled their part of the bargain in providing the loan; and it was commonplace for novations to occur on the basis of such clauses in syndicated loan agreements, many of which would have to be re-drafted if found ineffective. Footnote 35

On appeal, the requirement for an obligee to have to consent to a novation was reaffirmed by the Court of Appeal. But, in a judgment with which Rix L.J. agreed, Moore-Bick L.J. reasoned that such consent could be contained in the initial agreement itself, so that any subsequent novation might be done in the manner prescribed in the agreement without the obligee's further consent – or what he termed a specific consent – to the novation. Consideration for that advance consent was given by the obligor's entry into the initial agreement. As to how the novation could have taken place later without the obligee's specific consent, Moore-Bick L.J. indicated that he found persuasive the unilateral contract analysis suggested in Argo Fund . Footnote 36

The reasoning deployed in Habibsons Bank clarifies several matters. It establishes at Court of Appeal level that, in a syndicated loan context, a party to the facility agreement may by a term thereof provide its consent to a subsequent novation of that agreement (and of the bundle of rights and obligations contained therein) by its counterparty to a stranger. The effectiveness of any such novation can be rationalised on the unilateral contract analysis. The agreement must also harbour a mechanism for the novation which is not nebulous, and there must be sufficient certainty as to the terms of the new contract subsequently formed between the obligee and the incoming party after the novation. Footnote 37 In Habibsons Bank , the relevant clauses mentioned the transfer of the outgoing lender's rights and obligations by means of a novation; Footnote 38 the dispensation of the borrower's specific consent for such a transfer; and the agent bank's active involvement in executing a Transfer Certificate delivered to it by the outgoing and incoming lenders. In this way there was a reasonably clear acknowledgment of the nature of the transfer and the dispensation of the borrower's specific consent, lending greater certainty overall to the operation of the novation mechanism. Footnote 39

IV. Of Risk and Reward

Argo Fund and Habibsons Bank have not generated much adverse commentary on the correctness or utility of the advance consent proposition or the unilateral contract analysis. Footnote 40 In the loans context they have been uncritically mentioned or followed by later courts, Footnote 41 and the unilateral contract analysis has been proffered in explanation of a one-sided accession to a shareholder agreement. Footnote 42 The applicability of the advance consent proposition is no longer even constrained to lending or shareholder agreements, but potentially extends to other contracting contexts in general, Footnote 43 subject to the operation of contrary legislation. Footnote 44 The implications, however, are not all positive. Luxmoore J.'s early and tantalising suggestion in De Tchihatchef v Salerni Coupling Ltd. Footnote 45 that a cleverly worded substitutive provision might allow the substituted party to liberate itself from liability points to a recurrent inquiry in this area: the law's striking of a proper balance between contractual autonomy and the concern that obligors might unfairly shed their burdens. This section discusses three overlapping difficulties and some potential methods of resolution.

The first and most apparent difficulty is encapsulated within the following statement of HHJ Peter Bowsher Q.C. in St. Martin's Property Corporation Ltd. v Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons Ltd. : “English law has long set its face against the assignment of liabilities or burdens, for otherwise a party to a contract might avoid his responsibility by assigning, for example, the duty to make payment to a man of straw or a worthless £100 company.” Footnote 46

In the past two decades the courts do not appear to have fully heeded this brand of caution when developing a theory of advance consent to novation, Footnote 47 instead largely being content to frame the proposition in unqualified terms. Footnote 48

One explanation for this is that almost all of the existing authorities have centred over commercial parties rather than private individuals. There is no instinctive offensiveness about the notion that such a party should look after itself and swallow the consequences if in fact it has consented in advance to the counterparty's unilaterally novating the contract (and its contained obligations) to an unknown stranger. This underlies Kirby's recognition – and dismissal – of the risk as something the obligee may guard against by introducing restrictions on the type of person as a potential novatee. Footnote 49

The reality is that, as seen earlier, commercial parties are often motivated to incorporate an “advance consent” term into their legal contracts, including contracts entered into with private individuals and others who do not stand in a position of similar strength. In recent years the increase in the number of cases examining “advance consent” terms and the different types of contracts they consider indicates that parties with greater bargaining power are catching on and successfully introducing “advance consent” clauses into their legal agreements. It is not clear then that restrictions of the sort envisaged by Kirby are easily inserted at all by obligees. The upshot is the requirement for an obligee to consent to a novation fast becoming an increasing formality.

Another reason for the dearth of judicial concern over unfair disposals of liabilities by obligors is that those scenarios do not seem to reach the courts for decision. In Habibsons Bank , where the most sustained discussion of the advance consent proposition in modern English law can be found, no unsavoury practices or unsophisticated parties were present that necessitated mention by the Court of Appeal of possible exceptions to the proposition. Indeed, apart from a rare question from time to time, the English courts have phrased the advance consent proposition in quite general terms. We will later have to make the most out of those qualifications.

B. Unperformed Obligations

The second difficulty is inherent in a situation where the contractual obligations of the obligor, B , are not fully performed (that is, where the contract is executory) at the point of novation by B to the novatee, C . This may not be the result of a deliberate attempt by B to avoid liability for non-performance, which distinguishes it from the abuse scenario described earlier.

Take the following hypothetical modelled after the facts of Argo Fund and Habibsons Bank . A borrower has entered into a facility agreement for £10 million to be lent in equal shares by Banks X and Y . Bank X then sells its £5 million share of the loan to Bank Z on the secondary market, and they consequently follow the novation procedure prescribed in the facility agreement in the same way the selling and purchasing banks did in Argo Fund (recall that this eliminates the borrower's active participation in the novation). No part of the loan has been disbursed yet to the borrower under the facility at the time of sale and undertaking of the novation procedure. Two weeks after that procedure is completed, the borrower writes to Bank Z requesting for a draw-down of £5 million on the loan facility – they being respectively the obligee and obligor – and is surprised to find its request rebuffed on the ground that an application had been filed the previous week by a major creditor of Bank Z to place the bank in liquidation.

Leaving aside the application of insolvency rules, the borrower's immediate recourse would be to consider pursuing an action in breach of contract against Bank Z . With the commencement of the latter's liquidation proceedings, however, that option is likely to be cold comfort for the borrower, particularly so if it had required the funds urgently for business purposes. It may be left rueing its decision to consent in advance to a future novation of the agreement by Bank X to an unknown entity. To be sure, this outcome is not unique to an advance consent scenario – it could have occurred even if the borrower had participated actively in the novation process, such as where the borrower, Bank X , Bank Y and Bank Z had all executed a standalone novation agreement – but the likelihood of its arising is greater where the borrower has consented to the novation in advance, owing to the lack of opportunity for scrutinising the novatee around the time of novation.

Allowing the borrower to sue Bank X for the funds, on the other hand, runs up against the seemingly irrepressible objection that the purported novation has already discharged the contract between them. The logic that either Bank X or Bank Z , but not both at the same time , Footnote 50 can be liable for the obligation to advance funds to the borrower is rendered the more compelling where wording exists to that effect in the novation provisions within the facility agreement. Footnote 51

All of this leads, in the absence of statutory intervention, to a curious problem for the borrower (or any obligee in an analogous scenario). The ordinary understanding of the common law effects of a multipartite novation – even one operating on the basis of the obligee's advance consent – which is often reinforced by the detailed provisions found in the underlying agreement suggests that the obligee must, after the novation, look exclusively to the novatee for performance of the obligations originally borne by the obligor. There is of course little difficulty where there are no obligations left under the contract for the novatee to perform. But if such obligations do exist then the neat theoretical dichotomy just described potentially unravels in practice, since the obligee's non-participation at the point of novation ordinarily results in an inability to scrutinise or veto the novatee, who may be incapable or less capable than the outgoing obligor with respect to the performance of the relevant obligations. Any eventual deficiency in performance by the novatee leaves the obligee between two stools.

We may rule out the less attractive ways of addressing this. Ignorance, for one, is unlikely to be helpful. The aforesaid disjoint between theory and practice cannot be evaded on the ground that it will rarely arise in everyday contracting. A revolving credit facility in a syndicated lending agreement, for instance, which is in common usage, functions effectively because a lender – who might be substituted later – is continuously obligated to lend to the borrower from time to time during the term of the facility, provided the latter keeps within the facility limit and makes repayment as stipulated. Commercial realities therefore mean that the problem cannot be wished away. A solution more often advanced is that it is for an obligee to acquire its own protection by imposing conditions on the type of person who can be a novatee under the “advance consent” provision, such as in Habibsons Bank where it was stated that any prospective novatee had to be a “bank or financial institution … regularly engaged in or established for the purpose of making, purchasing or investing in loans, securities or other financial assets”; Footnote 52 and, where each of the conditions is satisfied, the obligee cannot then complain if the novatee is revealed to be incapable of performing the obligations. As adverted to earlier, however, the efficacy of this solution rests on the assumption that obligees can negotiate for such conditions to be installed. A large corporate borrower may successfully do so, but since the “advance consent” term can be used in numerous scenarios, many more who come up against one will not possess the ability as against their commercial counterparties to insert protective conditions.

It will be recalled that, at first instance in Habibsons Bank , Cooke J. upheld the effectiveness of an “advance consent” term partially on the ground that the borrower could have had no realistic concern as to the identity of the new (incoming) lender in circumstances where the lenders had already fulfilled their part of the bargain in providing the loan to the borrower. Footnote 53 This seems to suggest that if the lending obligation had not been fulfilled yet by the outgoing lender at the point of novation, questions might have been raised over the efficacy of the “advance consent” term. Whether (and if so how) that sort of instinctive recoil can be justified and explained is canvassed in a later section. We must round off the present discussion by considering a third difficulty relating to an “advance consent” provision.

C. Partial Novation

The last difficulty engendered by the use of an “advance consent” term which is discussed here involves the so-called “partial novation” phenomenon. Although it may occur in any multipartite novation, the likelihood of that is (again) greater in a situation where an “advance consent” term is relied on to effect the novation. Such a term is frequently adopted in a multipartite contracting context, where it is perceived to have the advantage of rendering subsequent novations more efficient by eliminating the active participation of the unchanged parties to the underlying contract.

Partial novation as a concept requires some unpacking. The nomenclature gained prominence following the Court of Appeal's decision in the conjoined appeals of Graiseley Properties Ltd. v Barclays Bank plc and Deutsche Bank AG v Unitech Global Ltd. Footnote 54 which was delivered after the public discovered the manipulation of the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) by a number of banks. The Deutsche Bank proceedings concerned a credit facility agreement pursuant to which US$150 million had been lent to Unitech Global, with interest on the sum determined by reference to LIBOR. Deutsche Bank was the original lender but eight other lenders subsequently acceded to the credit facility agreement (the form of accession is elaborated on shortly). These nine lenders later sued Unitech Global for defaulting on the repayment of the loan, only to be met with a counter-allegation that Deutsche Bank had made certain representations to Unitech Global, primarily relating to the integrity of the bank's role in the LIBOR-setting process, which had not only induced Unitech Global to enter into the credit facility agreement but were, given the bank's actions in the rate-fixing scandal, false.

An application by Unitech Global to amend its pleadings to incorporate those misrepresentations failed before Cooke J. for reasons we need not cover in detail. It was specifically held in relation to the issue of remedies, though, that to the extent Unitech Global had any right to rescind the credit facility agreement as a result of Deutsche Bank's misrepresentations, that right was lost when two of the eight lenders who acceded to the agreement did so by means of express novation which extinguished the original credit facility agreement and replaced it with new agreements. In the judge's words, the effect of novation was “not simply to assign or transfer a right or liability, but to extinguish the existing agreement and create a new contract”. Footnote 55 Cooke J. was persuaded in part by the language used in the “advance consent” term, which mentioned transfers “by way of novation” and, it may be added, bore some resemblance to the one he had previously encountered in Habibsons Bank .

Unitech Global appealed against Cooke J.'s decision. On the novation issue, Longmore L.J. (with whom Underhill L.J. and Sir Bernard Rix agreed) did not dispute that a novation in the strict legal sense – involving the discharge of an existing contract and the creation of a new contract – had the effect of defeating any equities (such as the right to rescind) which might apply to the existing contract. Footnote 56 Where he differed from the lower court was on the issue of whether such a novation was contemplated by the parties and had actually occurred in the present case. While the “advance consent” term mentioned transfers by way of novation, it also stated that a new incoming lender became “a Lender under this Agreement and … bound by the terms of this Agreement as a Lender”. Since parties would not, in a true novation, be agreeing to be bound by the existing agreement at all, Longmore L.J. wondered whether the term “novation” was being used in its strict legal sense in the “advance consent” provision. Footnote 57 And because it was arguable that the answer was in the negative – resulting in any right to rescind for misrepresentation remaining extant – the permission to amend application should not have failed on this ground.

The other point of immediate relevance is found within Longmore L.J.'s remarks about the fact that, even if two of the eight new lenders had acceded to the agreement by way of novation in the strict legal sense, the other six had acceded “by way of assignment, assumption and release of [the existing lender's] rights or obligations”. According to him:

there must at least be an argument that, on the facts of the present case, there is only a partial novation so that [two lenders] became parties to a new contract freed of the equity of rescission whereas the other parties (whether the original or the other new lenders) remain bound under “this Agreement” and will be affected by any such equity. Footnote 58

Adding that the concept of partial novation was not free from difficulty, Longmore L.J. nevertheless said that the problems ought not to be addressed on an application for permission to amend. Footnote 59 Although he did not do so he could have cited here the summary judgment decision of Langston Group Corp v Cardiff City Football Club Ltd. Footnote 60 where Briggs J. had said that the substitution of a stranger for an existing obligor in relation to some, but not all, of the obligations, leaving the remaining obligations unaffected as between the obligee and the obligor, did not seem obviously a case of novation of the entire contract. Footnote 61

This sketch of the “partial novation” concept presents several puzzles. There are initial questions over authoritativeness: given the nature of the application before the Court of Appeal, its views may be of limited precedential value and more liberally departed from in future cases. Footnote 62 The concept also opens a doctrinal Pandora's Box. It seems to have been implicitly assumed in Deutsche Bank that contractual rights and obligations (at least in a loan context) might arguably be transferrable from a contracting party to a stranger by means of express assignment and assumption , subject to the latter's being bound by any equities affecting the former at the point of transfer – the gist of the Court of Appeal's reasoning – and with the transferee becoming solely responsible for the performance of the obligations. Footnote 63 Even accounting for the early stage of the proceedings, it is improbable that so distinguished a constitution of the court would have omitted to recognise that undergirding premise. This aspect of the decision is therefore more compellingly understood as representing the court's unwillingness to foreclose an argument, and by extension a possible development of the law, that an express assignment or assumption of contractual obligations without recourse to the transferor is effective under certain circumstances. Such a path of exploration may no longer run counter to orthodoxy; for instance, Andrew Smith J. has signalled extrajudicially that established doctrines about transferring burdens should require fresh examination. Footnote 64 At present, English law generally permits one to assign only rights and not burdens under a contract. Footnote 65 Allowing obligations to be expressly assigned with (or without) the consent of the obligee would move it closer to some Continental legal systems. Footnote 66 But clearly any question of modification or abolition of the English rules on assignments of burdens will require careful consideration.

Another puzzle is the splintering contract, one best illustrated with an example. Take again the hypothetical involving the borrower, Bank X and Bank Y , but with the following twist: at a meeting prior to the execution of the facility agreement, authorised representatives of each bank committed actionable misrepresentation in rendering factually inaccurate advice to the borrower, who relied upon that advice in entering into the agreement. After the agreement is executed but before draw-down of the principal sum, Bank X sells its £5 million share of the loan to Bank Z on the secondary market, and they also follow the novation procedure prescribed in the facility agreement similar to what was done in Argo Fund , thereby eliminating the active participation of both Bank Y and the borrower in the novation. The borrower later discovers the inaccuracy of the advice it received from the representatives of Banks X and Y .

If one accepts the existence of the concept of partial novation as adumbrated in Deutsche Bank then it may be that the borrower could mount a claim for rescission against Bank Y , but not against Banks X and Z . Bank X escapes because one outcome of the novation was to end its contractual relations altogether with the borrower, while Bank Z escapes because it has entered into a fresh contract with the borrower sans right to rescind. Bank Y , on the other hand, remains a party to the original facility agreement, bound by any equities Footnote 67 attaching thereto, because it did not actively participate in the novation process effected among the borrower, Bank X and Bank Z . What has supposedly happened in literal and figurative silence during that process is the splintering of the original agreement among the borrower, Bank X and Bank Y into three contracts after the novation: one between the borrower and Bank Y (which is the original agreement with equities between them remaining unextinguished); one between the borrower and Bank Z (a new contract without any equities attaching that relate to the original agreement); and one between Banks Y and Z (also a new contract without any equities attaching which relate to the original agreement). Footnote 68 Together these constitute the post-novation contractual relationship among the borrower, Bank Y and Bank Z . Footnote 69

The creeping feeling of unreality about this analysis probably stems from its complexity and how divorced it seems from the likely contracting intention behind the use of an “advance consent” provision to streamline the process of novation. Footnote 70 Parties harnessing the words “novation of the contract” (or words to those effect) in their agreements, particularly commercial agreements, should generally be taken to understand that that involves the discharge of the original contract and the creation of a new contract for all of the parties concerned, Footnote 71 unless the context clearly reveals otherwise. Footnote 72 But the introduction of the concept of partial novation here would heavily qualify that understanding and invent a tertium quid : Footnote 73 if a party like Bank Y or the borrower, having given its consent in advance to a novation of a contract, does not then actively participate in the actual novation, it may be bound by the original contract which is not fully discharged so far as that party is concerned. That is simply unlikely to reflect the position envisioned at the outset, especially so if the parties theoretically could, in lieu of utilising the “advance consent” mechanism, have come together always to conclude a separate agreement for novation, in which case it would be beyond reasonable dispute that prior equities had not become attached to the new contract. Footnote 74 Lastly, there will be obvious challenges in maintaining and substantiating a concern to preserve equities attaching to the original contract – a concern that moved the court in Deutsche Bank Footnote 75 – in the face of a stipulation inserted by the parties dictating the non-survival of equities following any novation. Footnote 76

Given the intricate interplay of doctrine and practice surrounding the resolution of these questions, Longmore L.J. was, with respect, surely correct that the concept of partial novation should be judicially introduced into English law (if at all) only after a substantive hearing with the benefit of detailed argument. The view offered here is that the common law should either modify or jettison the existing understanding of partial novation, to the extent that that contemplates the splintering of a contract following novation of the entirety of the contract. Any residual anxiety that obligors then become free to evade their liabilities or obligations in a way that improperly defeats a legitimate interest or expectation is more appropriately ameliorated using the protective devices shortly to be discussed.

D. Protection

It is suggested that, in evaluating the use of an “advance consent” term for a future novation, an allied task must be the devising of suitable legal controls to mitigate the risks of obligors abusing that mechanism to unfairly discard their liabilities, as well as the risks faced by obligees in being inappropriately exposed to the consequences of non-performance of obligations. And yet the contemporary judicial instinct might fairly be summarised as one that upholds “advance consent” provisions with minimal curial interference. In recent memory there has been one occasion in the English courts where protection was expressly mooted for the hapless obligee. That arrived in the form of an obiter dictum in Argo Fund , where Rix L.J. remarked that an obligor who deliberately “shuffle[d] off” its contractual obligations to a third party that was not capable of fulfilling them might breach an implied term to the effect of a warranty that the third party was capable of performing them. Footnote 77

1. Common law implication

The untested character of Rix L.J.'s proposed limitation ought not to diminish its attraction of simplicity. Viewing the restriction upon an obligor's exercise of the right to novate through the lens of implication would require only adaptation of familiar principles of law. The implied term could be cast as a warranty by the obligor (in favour of the obligee) that it does not have reasonable grounds to know of the novatee's inability or unwillingness to perform the novated obligations. That formulation develops Rix L.J.'s dictum but employs a test of reasonableness in place of any absolute standard of knowledge, to accommodate English law's general dispensation regarding perfect foresight as well as its acceptance of damages to be an adequate substitute for performance in most cases.

In addition, a threshold of reasonableness would be preferable to allow the circumstances of individual cases to be considered in their proper context. In British Gas Trading Ltd. v Eastern Electricity plc , Footnote 78 a term in the contract stated that the obligee's approval of a novation was not to be unreasonably withheld. Colman J. found that the main purpose of that term, construed in the light of the other contractual provisions, was to enable the obligee to investigate and ascertain the ability and willingness of any proposed novatee to perform the contract post-novation. Since it was accepted that the prospective novatee there did have the financial status and ability to observe and perform the transferred obligations, the obligee could not have reasonably withheld its approval of the novation; it might have been otherwise if there were evidence of a material risk or possibility of the novatee's inability or unwillingness to perform the contract (which was not the case). The Court of Appeal upheld the judge's ruling.

British Gas Trading was primarily about the interpretation of a specific clause, but that decision also evidences the court's desire to want to consider the nature and circumstances of the transaction when determining the issue of consent to novation. The judicial examination ought not to descend to second-guessing the intentions of parties, who should not fear unduly triggering a breach of the implied term so long as they act in accordance with ordinary standards of (commercial) behaviour. Usage of “advance consent” terms is now widespread in facilitating value exchanges, sometimes involving very significant amounts as in secondary market transactions. The courts should conduct their scrutiny against this backcloth.

Considerations of policy, fairness and reasonableness, which are relevant to the implication of a term in law, Footnote 79 suggest that the warranty if introduced could operate by default in any contract containing an “advance consent” provision. Few would be heard to contend for an obligor to be allowed to shed its liabilities to a person it had reasonable basis to know could not discharge them. In certain circumstances, perhaps, the implied term might be contractually excludable, which should require at least express words or a necessary implication. Footnote 80 One common attempt is to insert an entire agreement clause but that would need to contain clear and adequate wording to successfully perform the exclusionary function. Footnote 81 A possible exclusion by necessary implication might be where, at the obligee's request, the class of potential novatees was limited to those persons having fiscal strength (e.g. based on specified financial ratios) sufficient in the ordinary course of business to perform the obligor's contractual obligations.

To summarise, then, a term could be implied in respect of the obligor's exercise of its right to novate, possibly framed as a warranty given by the obligor in favour of the obligee that it does not have reasonable grounds to know of the novatee's inability or unwillingness to perform the obligations so novated. Breach of the term, if not excluded, should ordinarily result in some compensation moving from the obligor to the obligee if the latter suffers loss following the novatee's (non-)performance under the new contract. It does not mean that the obligor will inevitably bear liability for the novatee's defective performance or that the obligor must make compensation to the same order as what the novatee would be liable for. The determination should focus on whether the obligor had reasonable grounds to know of the novatee's inability or unwillingness to perform and, if so, the extent to which the resulting loss is properly shouldered by the obligor. Such an apportionment of liability would be an exercise not unfamiliar to the courts.

2. Equitable limitations

There are, however, limits to the ways an implied term can address the problem of abuse. It may not be able to prevent a determined obligor from using the fact of novation to erase from existence the obligee's rights against the obligor – such as a right to set-off, rescind or terminate – primarily because breach of the implied term would not have the effect of invalidating the novation itself. Footnote 82 An alternative approach to risk mitigation would rely upon use of equitable principles and propose that any novation effected pursuant to an “advance consent” term has to be carried out honestly and in good faith, and, as one corollary of that principle, that it cannot be done to allow the obligor to get rid of its liabilities unfairly or improperly. Authority for these prescriptions arrives, somewhat surprisingly, in the form of a spate of decisions emanating from the collapse of numerous life assurance companies in the nineteenth century.

The Royal Naval, Military and East India Company Life Assurance Society (RNS) was an unincorporated company with which one Mr. Hort had, in each of 1855 and 1857, taken out an assurance policy on his life. The policy terms provided that, upon payment of the stipulated premiums, the capital, stock and funds of the company would “according and subject to the provisions of the [company's] deed of settlement” be liable to pay out the assured sums upon satisfactory proof of death. A clause in the company's deed of settlement allowed its directors, upon dissolution of the company, to transfer its funds and property to another assurance company or society to enable that other company or society to pay or satisfy any future claims or demands that might otherwise have been made on the dissolved company. RNS was dissolved in 1866 and a part of its property and assets transferred to the European Assurance Society (EAS). At the same time EAS and its directors covenanted that it, and its property and assets, should pay and satisfy all future liabilities on life or annuity policies that had already been issued by RNS. Mr. Hort was alive at the time of this transfer. In fact he was still alive when orders were made in 1872 for the winding up of EAS as well as RNS. Not unexpectedly, he made a claim in respect of his policies against the latter. Lord Westbury adjudged Mr. Hort entitled to prove on both his policies against RNS. That decision was appealed and a special case thereafter stated for the opinion of the Court of Appeal in Chancery.

Differing from Lord Westbury, the court held unanimously that, on its ordinary and true construction, the deed of settlement gave RNS the right to transfer its assets and liabilities, without the consent of the policyholders, to another assurance company or society. Footnote 83 To this Mr. Hort had agreed when he accepted the two policies taken out on his life. Footnote 84 One of the judges (Lord Cairns L.C.) was of the further opinion that Mr. Hort had had clear notice of the arrangements being undertaken by the two assurance companies and could not have objected to them. Footnote 85 Notably, both the Lord Chancellor and James L.J. insisted that Mr. Hort's case was not about novation but simply one of the construction of a contract. Footnote 86 The claim appears implausible in light of their finding that it was the liability on the very same policies issued by RNS that the incoming assurance company (i.e. EAS) was obliged to assume after the transfer in 1866, and that the former company had thereafter ceased to carry on business and was dissolved as far as could properly have been done – meaning that there was no longer any effective recourse to the original party. Footnote 87 At the time no technique (such as delegated or substituted performance) apart from novation could have achieved those precise results. Footnote 88

Several additional matters should be noted. Clearly the nature of the contract in question heavily influenced the outcome. Here was an assurance policy taken out with a company which could conceivably subsist for many years after its issuance. Lord Cairns L.C. observed that there was “considerable reason” why the company might wish to provide in its deed of settlement for some sort of arrangement by which its business was transferrable to another entity; there was otherwise no practical mode by which insurance companies could come to an end. Footnote 89 So much for the interests of the company, but the interests of the policyholders were also not neglected. According to James L.J. there were benefits that would accrue to them in allowing an insurance company to transfer its assets, liabilities and business to another company:

[If] a sufficient amount of business is not obtained to begin with, or if the business falls off, so that the assets and the probable future income of the society will not be sufficient to provide amply for all the liabilities which it has entered into and is entering into, the honest and proper course is to get some larger, stronger, and more prosperous society to accept the liabilities of the unprosperous society which, out of its assets, would pay a sufficient sum to induce the more prosperous society so to do … Therefore it is not that there is anything wrong in the provisions, because it was a reasonable and proper provision to make for the safety, not only of the shareholders, but of the persons insured. Footnote 90

It is unsurprising that the interests of policyholders should have featured on the judges’ minds as they examined the provision purportedly allowing the assurance company to transfer its liabilities, including those arising from policies already issued, to another assurance company without the consent of the holders. The atmosphere surrounding the massive insolvencies of life assurance companies was febrile, and the claim was also being heard in a court of equity. Footnote 91

This period of upheaval hints at what can go wrong with the advance consent proposition and at the types of guardrails required to be installed around it. Indeed, the judgments in Mr. Hort's case and in other contemporary decisions classically dictate certain limitations on one's ability to unilaterally carry out a transfer, even if a contractual provision might exist for that purpose at its favourable option. According to them, any transfer has to follow literally and properly the mechanism set out within that provision; Footnote 92 it has to be carried out honestly and in good faith; Footnote 93 and it cannot be undertaken to allow the transferring entity to get rid of its liabilities unfairly or improperly. Footnote 94 It is difficult to define these limits with greater specificity without circumscribing the court's ability to remedy injustice, Footnote 95 a task that can benefit from equity's ranging methods of inquiry, although care should be taken generally to avoid hindsight and to account for the circumstances and state of knowledge available at the time of the purported novation. Equitable relief should follow any contravention of the limitations, subject to the usual bars. Footnote 96

Contrasted with the common law implication of a warranty, a proper application of these equitable limitations may offer fuller protection while affording the courts greater latitude to take relevant commercial considerations into account. Had the facts of Argo Fund or Habibsons Bank been viewed through the prism of equity, for instance, it would have been clear that none of the transfers were impugnable on the ground that the transferor was acting in bad faith or getting rid of a liability in an improper manner. In each case the selling bank was simply transacting in the secondary market as an ordinary participant would. If, hypothetically, the selling bank had had an unexhausted obligation to lend to the borrower and that obligation was effectively transferred to the purchasing bank or financial institution, a court would have to look at the entire context and circumstances surrounding the transfer in determining whether to set it aside for impropriety. In this relation there can and should be no presumption that a transfer is an evasive manoeuvre; what is important is that parties adhere to ordinary standards of commercial fair dealing. Finally, it also means that Cooke J.'s unvoiced concern in Habibsons Bank , mentioned earlier, that the efficacy of an “advance consent” term could be put in question if the obligation to be novated had not been fulfilled at the point of novation, is both valid and well handled: equity can provide a means by which legitimate transfers are set apart, with due care and commercial sensitivity, from those that are illegitimate.

V. Conclusion

Where does this leave the issue of advance consent to novation? It appears that the balance lies in accepting that people should be able to provide their advance consent to a future novation, but without having to give the transferring party carte blanche in every respect. And it is preferable to concede that there is great commercial advantage and potential injustice in recognising a theory of advance consent to novation. Given how the modern authorities do not fully consider the risks and possible methods of abuse, the conclusions of this article are summarised by using the example set out at the beginning.

Suppose A and B are looking to contract with each other. B wishes to introduce an “advance consent” term by which A provides its consent to a possible novation of the contract from B to an unknown third party in the future. A 's first line of defence is either to reject that entirely or to negotiate for the term to be framed such that its consent becomes a conditional one. Some common conditions are that any future novation should take place within or not before a certain time; that the potential novatee should fall within a prescribed class (such as a person who is related to or affiliated with B or who meets certain qualifications); Footnote 97 or that prior notice of the novation and the novatee's identity should be given to A (who might or might not have a right to reject the novation, possibly to be exercised within a predetermined duration). Yet other conditions may be imposed and if so they should be sufficiently clear and certain for their fulfilment to be objectively ascertained. As Argo Fund and Habibsons Bank indicate, the term itself must then at least contain a formal mechanism to be followed by the relevant parties, one which is not nebulous and whose fulfilment is also capable of objective ascertainment, and provide sufficient certainty as to the terms of the new contract that is subsequently formed between A and the novatee, C , after the novation. (It should also address the post-novation status of equities between the parties, if they desire greater certainty on issues relating to partial novation. Footnote 98 )

Should an “advance consent” term become part of the contract between A and B , a future novation may permissibly be effected by B in accordance with that term and without needing A 's specific consent to the novation if the term so allows and if A 's advance consent has not been withdrawn. Footnote 99 This is also subject to operative statutory limits. Footnote 100 Any conditions as well as the formal mechanism in respect of the novation has to be literally and properly fulfilled and followed. Assuming that waiver and estoppel do not apply, a failure to observe the prescribed provisions generally renders the purported novation legally ineffective, with the original contract between A and B remaining afoot and no new contract coming into existence between A and the purported novatee.

To mitigate the risks of abuse and non-performance inherent in the advance consent proposition, one of two alternative approaches might be adopted. The first is equitable in nature and to say that any novation effected pursuant to the “advance consent” term is subject to the limitations first derived from the life assurance cases. The other is to be found in the common law implication of a warranty given by B in favour of A that it does not have reasonable grounds to know of C 's inability or unwillingness to perform the novated obligations. As between the two approaches, one can contend that the equitable approach more authoritatively represents the state of English law at present. But the antiquity of the line of cases it relies upon means that the area is ripe for re-examination on principle to produce a clearer, updated set of rules for modern application. It is worth repeating that a proper appreciation of the context will necessarily have to inform any judicial scrutiny. “Advance consent” terms are in common circulation and, in cases where ordinary standards of (commercial) behaviour are met, the courts should not readily question or go behind the apparent motives behind the usage of such terms. So, for example, banks and financial institutions should continue to be able to legitimately trade loan assets, and companies able to pursue restructuring and consolidation exercises.

Whichever approach is selected, it is suggested that the curially imposed limitations on the operation of the advance consent proposition should generally apply in every contracting context. That has the advantage of eschewing entangled inquiries when applying the advance consent proposition in practice, inquiries that might otherwise require one to differentiate, for instance, between contracts entered into with consumers and with non-consumers, or between long-term and short-term contracts. More broadly, a universal approach would maximise the permissive and restrictive aspects of the advance consent proposition: to allow the commercial advantages of the proposition to be generally realisable for all, but also to establish a consistent form of protection against improper and dishonest behaviour.

Assistant Professor of Law, Singapore Management University. Much of this article was written while holding the DS Lee Foundation Fellowship. Earlier drafts were presented at the Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference 2019 (University of Central Lancashire), Contracts Conference 2019 (Melbourne Law School) and Asia-Pacific Private Law Conference 2021 (University of Hong Kong). I am grateful for the feedback received at those forums. Especial thanks are due to Felicity Maher, James Penner, Yeo Tiong Min, Alexander Di Stefano and Nicholas Liu, as well as to the Editor, Louise Gullifer, and the reviewers, for their comments which improved this article. Any errors are mine.

1 See e.g. McMeel , G. , “ Book Review: The Law of Assignment: The Creation and Transfer of Choses in Action ” ( 2008 ) 37 C.L.W.R. 100, 101 Google Scholar ; A. Tettenborn, “Problems in Assignment Law: Not Yet Out of the Wood?” in A. Burrows and E. Peel (eds.), Contract Formation and Parties (Oxford 2010); C.H. Tham, “Book Review on the Law of Assignment” [2014] J.B.L. 520; P. MacMahon, “Rethinking Assignability” [2020] C.L.J. 288; Y.K. Liew, “Explaining Assignments of Arbitration Agreements” [2021] C.L.J. 101.

2 R. Goode, Commercial Law , 2nd ed. (London 1995), 109. This was not in the first edition but has continued to feature in later editions: see R.M. Goode, Commercial Law , 3rd ed. (London 2004), 105; E. McKendrick (ed.), Goode on Commercial Law , 4th ed. (London 2012), 117; E. McKendrick (ed.), Goode on Commercial Law , 5th ed. (London 2016), [3.89]; E. McKendrick, Goode and McKendrick on Commercial Law , 6th ed. (London 2020), [3.92]. Goode had written earlier in 1988 that a novation “requires the assent of the borrower unless provided for in the loan agreement” and supplemented that statement in 2003 with a footnote that the “mechanism for novation can be agreed in advance”: see R.M. Goode, Legal Problems of Credit and Security , 2nd ed. (London 1988), 25; R. Goode, Legal Problems of Credit and Security , 3rd ed. (London 2003), [1–82], n. 87.

3 It has been said that novation “in English domestic law lacks systematic development and exegesis”: Bridge , M. , “ The Proprietary Aspects of Assignment and Choice of Law ” ( 2009 ) 125 L.Q.R. 671, 677 Google Scholar , n. 38. The few academic studies that exist on common law novation are of high quality but do not delve into the risks of abuse: see e.g. Whitman , E.A. , “ Novation ” ( 1891 ) 16 Am. Eng. Ency. Law 862 Google Scholar ; J.B. Ames, “Novation” (1892) 6 Harv. L. Rev. 184; H.W. Beall, “Novation” (1902) 21 Am. Eng. Ency. Law (2nd ed.) 659; W.L. Nixon Jr., “The Requisites and Effects of Novation: A Comparative Survey” (1950) 25 Tulane L. Rev. 100; M.P. Furmston, “The Assignment of Contractual Burdens” (1998) 13 J.C.L. 42; H.O. Hunter, “Commentary on ‘Assignment of Contractual Burdens’” (1998) 13 J.C.L. 51; J. Bailey, “Novation” (1999) 14 J.C.L. 189.

4 Tolhurst v Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (1900) Ltd. [1902] 2 K.B. 660, 668 (Collins M.R.); Linden Gardens Trust Ltd. v Lenesta Sludge Disposals Ltd. [1994] 1 A.C. 85, 103 (Lord Browne-Wilkinson); Kabab-Ji SAL v Kout Food Group [2021] UKSC 48, [2021] Bus. L.R. 1717, at [60] (Lord Hamblen and Lord Leggatt).

5 Quest Advisors Ltd. v McFeely [2009] EWHC 2651 (Ch), at [17] (Robin Knowles Q.C.).

6 A novation may also be between A and B only, as where they agree to make a new contract and thereby expressly or impliedly discharge their original contract. Bipartite models of novation do not involve a stranger or raise attendant difficulties.

7 It is common to see parties executing a novation in the form of a deed to forestall arguments of invalidity based on a lack of consideration.

8 This is the frontier of a debate (not covered here) about whether an assignment of rights is in fact based on a trust relationship rather than predicated on conceptions of transfer: see generally Edelman , J. and Elliott , S. , “ Two Conceptions of Equitable Assignment ” ( 2015 ) 131 L.Q.R. 228 Google Scholar ; Tham , C.H. , Understanding the Law of Assignment (Cambridge 2019) CrossRef Google Scholar ; A. Tettenborn, “Book Review: Understanding the Law of Assignment” [2020] L.M.C.L.Q. 693.

9 Yet another established position (e.g. Mulkerrins v PricewaterhouseCoopers [2003] UKHL 41, [2003] 1 W.L.R. 1937, at [15] (Lord Millett)) which has occasionally been questioned: see latterly MacMahon, “Rethinking Assignability”, 310–11.

10 Kemp v Baerselman [1906] 2 K.B. 604, 610 (Farwell L.J.); Nokes v Doncaster Amalgamated Collieries Ltd. [1940] A.C. 1014, 1019 (Viscount Simon L.C.); Southway Group Ltd. v Wolff (1991) 57 B.L.R. 33, 52 (Bingham L.J.). Exceptions to the rule that obligations may be shifted only with the consent of the obligee exist, one instance being the restrictive covenant attaching to real property and binding on any person who becomes the proprietor. There are other established (albeit limited) situations where, without the obligee's consent, the relevant obligation may be validly discharged by one who is not an original party to the contract, such as through delegated performance. Statutory provisions may also exceptionally allow for obligations to be shifted automatically upon occurrence of a specified event: see e.g. Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, s. 110 (predecessor provision discussed in Stansell Ltd. v Co-operative Group (CWS) Ltd. [2006] EWCA Civ 538, [2006] 1 W.L.R. 1704); Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, s. 112 (discussed in WASA International (UK) Insurance Co. Ltd. v WASA International Insurance Co. Ltd. [2002] EWHC 2698 (Ch), [2003] 1 B.C.L.C. 668, at [16]; In re AIG Europe Ltd. [2018] EWHC 2818 (Ch), [2019] Bus. L.R. 307, at [32]); Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, Regulation 4 (predecessor provision discussed in British Fuels Ltd. v Baxendale [1999] 2 A.C. 52, 76, [1998] 3 W.L.R. 1070). This article is not concerned with such exceptions, situations or provisions, save where they arise in an ancillary way to the discussion on novation.

11 “The need for consent carries within it the need for a comprehension by the original parties as to what burden is being removed and to whom it is being transferred”: Bambury v Jensen [2015] NZHC 2384, at [42] (Fogarty J.).

12 Accepted since at least Ex parte South (1818) 36 E.R. 907 and Wilson v Coupland (1821) 106 E.R. 1176.

13 Kirby , J. , “ Assignments and Transfers of Contractual Duties: Integrating Theory and Practice ” ( 2000 ) 31 V.U.W.L.R. 317, 345 Google Scholar .

14 Ibid. , at 348.

15 A.C. Gooch and L.B. Klein, Documentation for Loans, Assignments and Participations (London 1996), 307; J. Oldnall and M. Clark, “The Age of Consent” (2010) 25 J.I.B.L.R. 89; M. Bridge et al., The Law of Personal Property , 3rd ed. (London 2022), [25-006].

16 Buckley , R.P. , “ The Law of Emerging Markets Loan Sales: Part 1 ” ( 1999 ) 14 J.I.B.L. 110, 111 Google Scholar ; Fight , A. , Syndicated Lending ( Oxford 2004 ), 117 Google Scholar ; M. Dunn et al., “The New Breed of Transfer Restrictions in Leveraged Lending Transactions: A New Paradigm or Just a Sign of the Times?” [2018] J.I.B.F.L. 222; contra Bailey, “Novation”, 215.

17 Grant v WDW 3 Investments Ltd. [2017] EWHC 2807 (Ch), at [12].

18 There will almost certainly be further evolutionary stories which are outwith the scope of this article. For instance, on the use of blockchain technology in the transfer of syndicated loan interests, see e.g. S.J. Obie, “Blockchain and the Syndicated Loan Market: A Closer Look” [2017] J.I.B.F.L. 711; L. González-Echenique, “Blockchain: The Future of Syndicated Lending?” [2019] J.I.B.F.L. 326, 328.

19 Bailey, “Novation”, 217–18.

20 [2010] EWCA Civ 1335, [2011] Q.B. 943, at [21] (Moore-Bick L.J.).

21 R. Goode, Commercial Law in the Next Millennium (London 1998), 11; Dunn et al., “New Breed of Transfer Restrictions”, 223.

22 See e.g. 216 Jamaica Avenue LLC v S & R Playhouse Realty Co. 540 F. 3d. 433 (6th Cir. 2008), 438–39.

23 See e.g. Byrne v Reid [1902] 2 Ch. 735; Kynixa Ltd. v Hynes [2008] EWHC 1495 (QB).

24 Kirby, “Assignments and Transfers of Contractual Duties”, 348.

25 See e.g. CSG Ltd. v Fuji Xerox Australia Pty. Ltd. [2011] NSWCA 335.

26 Since at least Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. [1892] 2 Q.B. 484 (affd. [1893] 1 Q.B. 256) English law has accepted the validity of a contract formed on the basis of an offer made to the world at large.

27 “Synallagmatic” having here its English contract law meaning: see United Dominions Trust (Commercial) Ltd. v Eagle Aircraft Services Ltd. [1968] 1 W.L.R. 74, 82–84 (Diplock L.J.); Harvela Investments Ltd. v Royal Trust Co. of Canada (C.I.) Ltd. [1986] A.C. 207, 224–26 (Lord Diplock).

28 M. Hughes, “Transferability of Loans and Loan Participations” [1987] J.I.B.L. 5, 7–8; Walter , J.M. and Rechenberg , S.A. , “ The Role of Banks as Principal Bridging Financiers ” ( 1991 ) 65 Aust. L.J. 703, 715 Google Scholar ; Graaf , F. , Euromarket Finance: Issues of Euromarket Securities and Syndicated Eurocurrency Loans ( Deventer 1991 ), 378 Google Scholar ; T. Rhodes (ed.), Syndicated Lending: Practice and Documentation (London 1993), 303; Fight , A. and Shepherd , G. Le F. , Syndicated Lending: The Legal Framework ( London 1996 ), 27 – 28 Google Scholar ; M. Hughes, “Contracts, Consideration and Third Parties” [2000] J.I.B.F.L. 79, 81; M. Hughes, “Loans Agreements – Single Bank and Syndicated” [2000] J.I.B.F.L. 115, 118–19. The unilateral contract analysis may not have been uniformly received within the industry; in Lennox , T.M. , “ Transfer of Obligations ” ( 2001 ) 2 Melb. J. Int. L. 209, 210 –12 Google Scholar , reference was made to the difficulties in rationalising the substitution of lenders in syndicated loan arrangements without mentioning the unilateral contract analysis.

29 [2005] EWHC 600 (Comm), [2005] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 203.

30 Terms apparently based on a standard form issued in 1997 by the Loan Market Association: Howe , S. , “ Defining a Financial Institution ” ( 2006 ) 156 N.L.J. 1280 Google Scholar . See M. Hughes, “Creating a Secondary Market in Loans: A Review of the Key Issues” [1998] J.I.B.F.L. 352 for an overview of the standard documentation for syndicated loans around 1997 and 1998.

31 Argo Fund Ltd. v Essar Steel Ltd. [2005] EWHC 600 (Comm), [2005] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 203, at [50].

32 As Aikens J. pithily put it (at [50]), “nothing more has to be done”.

33 Ibid. , at [51]–[52]. On appeal, the leading judgment delivered by Auld L.J. did not discuss the unilateral contract analysis, although it was accepted that clause 27.2 did contain a mechanism for novation: Argo Fund Ltd. v Essar Steel Ltd. [2006] EWCA Civ 241, [2006] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 134, at [18], [63].

34 No relevant authority appeared to have been cited to Aikens J. for this repurposing of the unilateral contract. Indeed, according to one commentator who has a claim to being the inventor of the original “transferability” provisions in syndicated lending agreements, Argo Fund was the first ever judicial endorsement of the unilateral contract analysis in a syndicated lending context: M. Hughes, Legal Principles in Banking and Structured Finance , 2nd ed. (Haywards Heath 2006), 123; M. Hughes, “Transferability in Syndicated Lending” (2007) 1 L.F.M.R. 21, 23.

35 Habibsons Bank Ltd. v Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd. [2010] EWHC 702 (Comm), at [28].

36 Habibsons Bank Ltd. v Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd. [2010] EWCA Civ 1335, [2011] Q.B. 943, at [19], [21]–[23]. The Dutch law aspect of the case is noted in A. McKnight, “A Review of 2010: Part 1” (2011) 5 L.F.M.R. 3, 10.

37 Ibid. , at [21]–[22].

38 See also Bailey v Barclays Bank plc [2014] EWHC 2882 (QB), at [76] (H.H.J. Keyser Q.C.).

39 Compared to the provision in Argo Fund , the wording in Habibsons Bank appears more elaborate and to have been based on an industry precedent issued by the Loan Market Association in 2004. It is unclear if the drafters of the loan agreement had the benefit of considering the judgments in Argo Fund .

40 Academic writers and industry commentators generally have not been critical in their scrutiny. From the former, see A. Mugasha, The Law of Multi-bank Financing: Syndicated Loans and the Secondary Loan Market (Oxford 2007), [8.07]; E.P. Ellinger, E. Lomnicka and C.V.M. Hare, Ellinger's Modern Banking Law , 5th ed. (Oxford 2011), 788; A.G. Guest, Guest on the Law of Assignment (London 2012), [1-65] (see also the later editions A.G. Guest and Y.K. Liew, Guest on the Law of Assignment , 2nd ed. (London 2015), [1-72]; Y.K. Liew, Guest on the Law of Assignment , 3rd ed. (London 2018), [1-57–1-58]; Y.K. Liew, Guest on the Law of Assignment , 4th ed. (London 2021), [1-74–1-75]); M. Furmston and G.J. Tolhurst, Privity of Contract (Oxford 2015), [3.57], n. 228; G. Tolhurst, The Assignment of Contractual Rights , 2nd ed. (Oxford 2016), [3.06], n. 20; R. Cranston et al., Principles of Banking Law , 3rd ed. (Oxford 2017), 485; R. Goode and L. Gullifer, Goode and Gullifer on Legal Problems of Credit and Security , 6th ed. (London 2017), [1-87], n. 452; S. Paterson and R. Zakrzewski (eds.), McKnight, Paterson, and Zakrzewski on the Law of International Finance , 2nd ed. (Oxford 2017), [12.7.3.1–12.7.3.3]; J. Odgers (gen. ed.), Paget's Law of Banking , 15th ed. (London 2018), [12.30]; M. Smith and N. Leslie, The Law of Assignment , 3rd ed. (Oxford 2018), [5.113]; Tham, Understanding the Law of Assignment , 56; R. Zakrzewski and G. Fuller, McKnight and Zakrzewski on the Law of Loan Agreements and Syndicated Lending (Oxford 2019), [4.68–4.71]; L. Gullifer and J. Payne, Corporate Finance Law: Principles and Policy , 3rd ed. (Oxford 2020), 459; M. Bridge (gen. ed.), Benjamin's Sale of Goods , 11th ed. (London 2021), [23-318]; Bridge et al., Law of Personal Property , [25-004–25-005]. From the latter, see A. McKnight, “A Review of Developments in English Law During 2005” (2006) 21 J.I.B.L.R. 117, 133–34; G. Bhattacharyya and H. Beal, “The Meaning of ‘Financial Institution’: Argo Fund Ltd. v Essar Steel Ltd. ” (2006) 21 J.I.B.L.R. 599, 600; Hughes, “Transferability in Syndicated Lending”, 22–23; F. Julien, “Syndicated Financing and Transfer of Rights and Obligations: French and English Law Aspects” (2008) 2 L.F.M.R. 132, 137; M. Lovell and B. Vuong, “ Goodridge Appeal: Legal Principles Governing Assignment and Novation of Contracts” (2011) 26(8) Australian Banking & Finance Law Bulletin 118; P. Rawlings, “Restrictions on the Transfer of Rights in Loan Contracts” [2013] J.I.B.F.L. 543; N. Mugarura, “The Law Relating to Syndicated Loan Agreements and Its Application in Commercial Practice” (2016) 24 J.F.R.& C. 177, 192.

41 Deutsche Bank A.G. v Unitech Global Ltd. [2013] EWHC 471 (Comm), at [50] (Cooke J.); Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd. v Independent Power Tanzania Ltd. [2016] EWHC 2908 (Comm), at [46] (Flaux J.). In Australia, see Leveraged Equities Ltd. v Goodridge [2011] FCAFC 3, (2011) 274 A.L.R. 655, at [299]–[328] (Jacobson J.); GE Commercial Corporation (Australia) Pty. Ltd. v Wallis [2015] NSWSC 704, at [21] (Adams J.).

42 Yara Australia Pty. Ltd. v Oswal (No. 2) [2013] WASCA 187, at [67] (McLure P.), [424] (Murphy J.A.).

43 Such as a conditional fee agreement ( Budana v Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust [2017] EWCA Civ 1980, [2018] 1 W.L.R. 1965), petroleum exploration agreement ( Armour Energy Ltd. v AEGP Australia Pty. Ltd. [2016] QSC 153, at [61]–[65]) or construction and design contract ( Energy Works (Hull) Ltd. v MW High Tech Projects UK Ltd. [2020] EWHC 2537 (TCC), [2020] B.L.R. 747, at [102]).

44 A possible instance being the Consumer Rights Act 2015, s. 63, read with Schedule 2, paragraph 7.

45 [1932] 1 Ch. 330, 345–46.

46 (1991) 25 Con. L.R. 51, 60.

47 Cf. the academic views in R.P. Buckley, “Domestic and Euromarket Loan Transfers Under the Corporations Law” (1993) 67 Aust. L.J. 828, 830; Kirby, “Assignments and Transfers of Contractual Duties”, 348; K.H. Lau, “Unilateral Transfers of Contractual Obligations” (2013) 129 L.Q.R. 491, 494; T.N. Parsons, Lingard's Bank Security Documents , 7th ed. (London 2019), [12.30] (with a reference to J.R. Lingard, Tolley's Commercial Loan Agreements (Croydon 1990), [19.2]).

48 A similar observation may be made of the state of Australian law, which contains little examination of the possible limits to the advance consent proposition: see e.g. Pacific Brands Sport & Leisure Pty. Ltd. v Underworks Pty. Ltd. [2006] FCAFC 40, (2006) 230 A.L.R. 56, at [32] (Finn and Sundberg JJ.); Leveraged Equities v Goodridge [2011] FCAFC 3, at [299]–[317] (Jacobson J.).

49 Kirby, “Assignments and Transfers of Contractual Duties”, 348.

50 See further Bailey, “Novation”, 201.

51 By the same token, though, claiming that the original contract has been discharged pursuant to such wording may (inadvertently) trigger a statutory prohibition against that action: see e.g. Consumer Rights Act 2015, s. 63 (read with Schedule 2, paragraph 7) which may render unfair and therefore non-binding on a consumer a one-sided term having the object or effect of authorising a trader to dissolve the contract on a discretionary basis. No court or tribunal appears to have ruled on this yet.

52 See also Galer v Mond [2021] EWHC 1952 (Ch), at [29] (H.H.J. Stephen Davies).

53 Habibsons Bank v Standard Chartered Bank [2010] EWHC 702 (Comm), at [28].

54 [2013] EWCA Civ 1372.

55 Deutsche Bank v Unitech Global [2013] EWHC 471 (Comm), at [50].

56 Graiseley Properties Ltd. v Barclays Bank plc [2013] EWCA Civ 1372, at [33], [37].

57 Ibid. , at [35]. In Energy Works v MW High Tech Projects [2020] EWHC 2537 (TCC), O'Farrell J. accepted (at [98]) that the label given by the parties was not conclusive and that each contract had to be construed against the relevant factual matrix.

58 Ibid. , at [37].

59 These problems did not in the event require to be resolved at trial: Deutsche Bank A.G. v Unitech Global Ltd. [2019] EWHC 969 (Comm), at [49] (Knowles J.).

60 [2008] EWHC 535 (Ch), at [42].

61 Briggs J. concluded that “the question whether the addition of a new party to an agreement, and its substitution as obligor for an existing party in respect of some, but not all of that party's obligations under the contract gives rise to a determination of the old contract and its replacement with a new one is not susceptible of a single doctrinaire answer, applicable for all purposes. It will always be relevant to know for what purpose the question needs to be answered”: ibid., at [47]. This scenario has been described as representing an “uncommon type of novation”: Bailey, “Novation”, 193. In Canada, see Weldwood-Westply Ltd. v Cundy [1965] S.C.R. 586, 591 (Spence J.)

62 Omar v El-Wakil [2001] EWCA Civ 1090, [2002] 2 P. & C.R. 3, at [33] (Arden L.J.); contra Cave v Robinson Jarvis & Rolf [2001] EWCA Civ 245, [2002] 1 W.L.R. 581, at [28] (Potter L.J.), [37] (Jonathan Parker L.J.) (on appeal the House of Lords did not hear or rule on arguments on the question of precedent: [2002] UKHL 18, [2003] 1 A.C. 384, at [66] (Lord Scott of Foscote)). The fact of the application's having been fully argued may not change the (non-)binding nature of the resulting decision: MY (Pakistan) v Secretary of State of the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1500, [2022] 1 W.L.R. 238, at [17] (Underhill L.J.). This is not the only issue of stare decisis afflicting the Court of Appeal: see Lau , K.H. , “ High Court Masters and the Upper Tribunal ” ( 2021 ) 40 C.J.Q. 249, 255 Google Scholar , n. 38.

63 See also J. Little, “Novation of Contractual Obligations: A Joint Venture Perspective” [2005] AMPLA Yearbook 98, 109. The unaddressed difficulty here would have been that the phrase “assignment, assumption and release” that was used in the relevant clause was terminology more commonly found in contracts governed by US law (as the court was informed): Graiseley Properties v Barclays Bank [2013] EWCA Civ 1372, at [36]. Transposing that into English law might result in one of at least four alternative outcomes: that the operative language was ineffective to transfer any obligations; that it was effective to assign both rights and obligations; that it was effective to assign rights and novate obligations; or that it was effective to novate both rights and obligations. In the last possibility, it might then also be debatable whether the new party took subject to equities affecting the outgoing party.

64 “Foreword”, in M. Smith, The Law of Assignment (Oxford 2007), v. See elsewhere Circuit-Systems Ltd. v Zuken-Redac (UK) Ltd. [1997] 1 W.L.R. 721, 732 (Staughton L.J.); Promontoria (Henrico) Ltd. v Samra [2019] EWHC 2327 (Ch), [2019] C.T.L.C. 295, at [88] (H.H.J. David Cooke); Lau, “Unilateral Transfers of Contractual Obligations”, 491–92.

65 In the syndicated loan context, see Bridge et al., Law of Personal Property , [25-008].

66 Cf. Woyciechowski , S. , “ Transfer of Contract ” in Jansen , N. and Zimmermann , R. (eds.), Commentaries on European Contract Laws ( Oxford 2018 ), 1753 Google Scholar .

67 In this example the equity is a right to rescind, but other equities conceivably exist such as a right of set-off.

68 See also the understanding of partial novation in Bailey v Barclays Bank [2014] EWHC 2882 (QB), at [70] (H.H.J. Keyser Q.C.).

69 A similar type of splintering was thought to have possibly occurred in Langston Group Corp v Cardiff City Football Club [2008] EWHC 535 (Ch), discussed above.

70 In practice it is common for novation scenarios to feature more parties than are present in the hypothetical situation. The Deutsche Bank case, for instance, saw nine separate lenders becoming privy to a credit facility agreement at different junctures. In Redwood Master Fund Ltd. v TD Bank Europe Ltd. [2002] EWHC 2703 (Ch), [2006] 1 B.C.L.C. 149 there were more than 46 lenders at the relevant time. The possibility of a partial novation in these scenarios may appear somewhat incredible.

71 In Habibsons Bank v Standard Chartered Bank [2010] EWCA Civ 1335, at [23], Moore-Bick L.J. observed that the standing offer would have been made by the borrower to all the lenders and could not have been revoked without the consent of all of them .

72 Burton J. in CMA CGM S.A. v Hyundai MIPO Dockyard Co. Ltd. [2008] EWHC 2791 (Comm), [2009] 1 Lloyd's Rep. 213, at [23] seemed to incline to the view that a substitution of one obligor for another which was described by the parties as a “novation” might not have the effect of extinguishing the original contract and creating a new contract, but operate simply to “repeople the original contracts, leaving their provisions (including their dates) unchanged”. Some commentators have generously interpreted the passage to mean that this “repeopling” remains a novation, albeit that the extent of novation is flexible and dependent on the intention of the parties: Bridge et al., Law of Personal Property , [25-010–25-011]. On novation and variation, see also Samuels Finance Group plc v Beechmanor Ltd. (1994) 67 P. & C.R. 282, 285 (Lloyd L.J.); Telewest Communications plc v Customs and Excise Commissioners [2003] EWHC 3176 (Ch), [2004] S.T.C. 517, at [57] (Sir Francis Ferris); [2005] EWCA Civ 102, [2005] S.T.C. 481, at [26] (Sir Christopher Staughton); Musst Holdings Ltd. v Astra Asset Management UK Ltd. [2021] EWHC 3432 (Ch), at [392] (Freedman J.); ALH Group Property Holdings Pty. Ltd. v Chief Commissioner of State Revenue of the State of New South Wales [2012] HCA 6, (2012) 245 C.L.R. 338; L.C. Ho, “Novation, Variation and Rescission: A Question of Intention?” (2008) 1 Corporate Rescue and Insolvency 95, 96.

73 Elsewhere described as a “novation with ‘assignment-like’ features”: Gullifer and Payne, Corporate Finance Law , 464.

74 Of course, this does not mean that the parties cannot agree, in their agreement to novate, that certain equities between some or all of them are to be preserved (for instance, by providing that the novation be on the same terms as the original contract immediately prior to the effective time of the novation), but the point is that it would require an express act to move away from the (present) default position that a novation results in a new contract without prior equities attaching to it.

75 See also Bailey, “Novation”, 204, n. 78.

76 In light of the complexity of the case, it was perhaps a relief (and no doubt a disappointment to some legal academics) that the court in Deutsche Bank did not have to contend with any such stipulation. See also M.J. Smith, “Transmitting the Benefit of a Letter of Credit” [1991] J.B.L. 447, 449–50; Little, “Novation of Contractual Obligations”, 107.

77 Argo Fund v Essar Steel [2006] EWCA Civ 241, at [70].

78 Unreported, QBD, 19 November 1996; CA, 18 December 1996.

79 Crossley v Faithful & Gould Holdings Ltd. [2004] EWCA Civ 293, [2004] 4 All E.R. 447, at [36] (Dyson L.J.); Geys v Société Générale, London Branch [2012] UKSC 63, [2013] 1 A.C. 523, at [56] (Baroness Hale J.S.C.).

80 Johnson v Unisys Ltd. [2001] UKHL 13, [2003] 1 A.C. 518, at [24] (Lord Steyn).

81 Matthews v Kuwait Bechtel Corporation [1959] 2 Q.B. 57, 63 (Sellers L.J.); Ranson v Customer Systems plc [2012] EWCA Civ 841, [2012] I.R.L.R. 769, at [63] (Lewison L.J.); Nigeria v JP Morgan Chase Bank NA [2019] EWHC 347 (Comm), [2019] 1 C.L.C. 207, at [37] (Andrew Burrows Q.C.) (affd. [2019] EWCA Civ 1641, [2019] 2 C.L.C. 559, at [40] (Rose L.J.)).

82 I am grateful to the Editor, Louise Gullifer, for prompting thought on this point.

83 In re European Assurance Society (Hort's Case) (1875) 1 Ch. D. 307, 319–22.

84 In a later, unrelated decision, the Court of Appeal reached the same conclusion in respect of a policy which did not expressly refer to the company's deed of settlement, because the circumstances there revealed that the policy must have impliedly meant that the company's funds were liable according to the deed of settlement: In re European Assurance Society (Dowse's Case) (1876) 3 Ch. D. 384, 387 (James L.J.).

85 In re European Assurance Society (Hort's Case) (1875) 1 Ch. D. 307, 319–20. Interestingly, in the later case of In re European Assurance Society Arbitration Acts and Industrial and General Life Assurance and Deposit Co. (Cocker's Case) (1876) 3 Ch. D. 1, 9–10, Lord Cairns L.C. thought that a policyholder might, after being notified of the proposed transfer, be able to raise an objection thereto despite having initially consented through acceptance of the policy and deed of settlement. His earlier view seems preferable, not only because it would be relatively simple for parties to draft their contracts in such a way as to get around the notification-and-consent requirement, but more importantly because that requirement gives the obligee a second bite at the cherry, so to speak, when ex hypothesi it would already have executed a contract in which it ostensibly consented to a future novation.

86 Ibid. , at 319 (Lord Cairns L.C.) and 322 (James L.J.); cf. Mellish L.J.'s views at 323. See also the reluctance to use the term “novation” in In re European Assurance Society (Harman's Case) (1875) 1 Ch. D. 326, 332 (Lord Cairns L.C.).

87 Lord Cairns L.C. had in fact characterised Mr. Hort's policy of assurance as one which was “in its nature open to the chance of shifting”: In re European Assurance Society (Hort's Case) (1875) 1 Ch. D. 307, 319.

88 Even today, saying that the substitution of a party is not a novation because the substituting party performs the original contract comes very close to an analysis Davis L.J. mooted in Budana v Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust [2017] EWCA Civ 1980, [2018] 1 W.L.R. 1965, at [93], [102] but which was rejected by his colleagues. The majority, disagreeing with Davis L.J., preferred a novation-based analysis: at [65]–[69] (Gloster L.J.), [118]–[119] (Beatson L.J.). For another view, see Weyerhaeuser v Hayes 2008 BCCA 69, at [19]–[25] (Low J.). Approaching the matter along the lines of novation (instead of performance) suggests that we should properly distinguish substitutions from variations where one party consents to the other's having the right to unilaterally amend the terms of their contract (subject to legislation such as the Consumer Rights Act 2015, s. 63, read with Schedule 2, paragraphs 11, 22, 23, 24): see Wandsworth London Borough Council v D'Silva [1998] I.R.L.R. 193, at [31] (Lord Woolf M.R.); Bateman v Asda Stores Ltd. [2010] I.R.L.R. 370, at [31] (Silber J.); Amberley (UK) Ltd. v West Sussex County Council [2011] EWCA Civ 11, at [22] (Aikens L.J.); MPloy Group Ltd. v Denso Manufacturing UK Ltd. [2014] EWHC 2992 (Comm), at [65] (Christopher Butcher Q.C.).

89 In re European Assurance Society (Hort's Case) (1875) 1 Ch. D. 307, 317–18.

90 Ibid. , at 321. He would repeat a similar view in In re European Assurance Society Arbitration Acts (Doman's Case) (1876) 3 Ch. D. 21, 27.

91 This was due to the winding up and the interposition of trusts law in the constitution of the unincorporated companies. For more on this historical business form, see Harris , R. , Industrializing English Law: Entrepreneurship and Business Organization, 1720–1844 ( Cambridge 2000 ), chapter 6 CrossRef Google Scholar ; Morley , J. , “ The Common Law Corporation: The Power of the Trust in Anglo-American Business History ” ( 2016 ) 116 Colum. L. Rev. 2145 Google Scholar ; J.D. Turner, “The Development of English Company Law Before 1900” in H. Wells (ed.), Research Handbook on the History of Corporate and Company Law (Cheltenham 2018).

92 In re European Assurance Society (Hort's Case) (1875) 1 Ch. D. 307, 318 (Lord Cairns L.C.).

93 In re The Times Life Assurance and Guarantee Co., ex parte Nunneley (1870) 39 L.J. Ch. 297, 302 (James V.C.) (affd. (1870) 39 L.J. Ch. 527); In re European Assurance Society (Hort's Case) (1875) 1 Ch. D. 307, 318 (Lord Cairns L.C.); In re European Assurance Society Arbitration Acts and Industrial and General Life Assurance and Deposit Co. (Cocker's Case) (1876) 3 Ch. D. 1, 9 (Lord Cairns L.C.); In re European Assurance Society Arbitration Acts (Doman's Case) (1876) 3 Ch. D. 21, 26 (Lord Cairns L.C.) and 27 (James L.J.). It might separately be contended that the exercise of the right to novate involves the exercise of a type of inherent discretion on the part of the obligor, thereby drawing into play the regulating duties enunciated in Braganza v BP Shipping Ltd. [2015] UKSC 17, [2015] 1 W.L.R. 1661. Later cases do not appear (yet) to have endorsed such a proposition, at least in respect of an absolute right to novate. Assuming the existence of the equitable jurisdiction as developed in this article, however, there may be less urgency to determine the correctness or suitability of Braganza so far as relates to a clause that confers a right to novate (or assign).

94 In re European Assurance Society (Hort's Case) (1875) 1 Ch. D. 307, 318 (Lord Cairns L.C.); In re European Assurance Society Arbitration Acts (Doman's Case) (1876) 3 Ch. D. 21, 26 (Lord Cairns L.C.). It may incidentally be noted that Mellish L.J., without having to decide the question in In re European Assurance Society (Harman's Case) (1875) 1 Ch. D. 326, 333, mused over whether a provision which merely permitted a company to undertake a sale or amalgamation without the consent of the policyholders would be sufficient to enable the shareholders to get rid of their liabilities.

95 Comparisons to insolvency legislation may be helpful although caution should be exercised owing to the specific context of such legislation.

96 In re The Times Life Assurance and Guarantee Co., ex parte Nunneley (1870) 39 L.J. Ch. 297, 302 (James V.C.).

97 Rawlings, “Restrictions on the Transfer of Rights in Loan Contracts”, 544; S. McCracken et al., Everett and McCracken's Banking and Financial Institutions Law , 9th ed. (Pyrmont, NSW. 2017), [15.410]; G. Penn, “Promoting Liquidity in the Secondary Loan Market: Is Sub-participation Still Fit for Purpose?” (2022) 37 J.I.B.L.R. 85, 99–101.

98 See Goode and Gullifer, Goode and Gullifer on Legal Problems of Credit and Security , [3-10], n. 72. Ultimately the terms of the new contract following novation can be moulded by agreement, including in relation to the survival of rights and equities. It is not inconceivable that formal recognition of a concept of partial novation (as described in the pages above) will provoke a drafting response to the effect that, following a novation among some or all of the parties, any equity attaching in respect of the contract immediately prior to the novation is extinguished save as otherwise agreed.

99 On the withdrawal of consent, see Bridge et al., Law of Personal Property , [25-005].

100 See e.g. Consumer Rights Act 2015, s. 63, read with Schedule 2, paragraph 7.

This article has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by Crossref .

Google Scholar

View all Google Scholar citations for this article.

Save article to Kindle

To save this article to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle .

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Volume 81, Issue 3
Kwan Ho Lau
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008197322000472

Save article to Dropbox

To save this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Dropbox account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox .

Save article to Google Drive

To save this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Google Drive account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive .

Reply to: Submit a response

- No HTML tags allowed - Web page URLs will display as text only - Lines and paragraphs break automatically - Attachments, images or tables are not permitted

Your details

Your email address will be used in order to notify you when your comment has been reviewed by the moderator and in case the author(s) of the article or the moderator need to contact you directly.

You have entered the maximum number of contributors

Conflicting interests.

Please list any fees and grants from, employment by, consultancy for, shared ownership in or any close relationship with, at any time over the preceding 36 months, any organisation whose interests may be affected by the publication of the response. Please also list any non-financial associations or interests (personal, professional, political, institutional, religious or other) that a reasonable reader would want to know about in relation to the submitted work. This pertains to all the authors of the piece, their spouses or partners.

IMAGES

PPT
Understanding The Law Of Assignment
Understanding The Law Of Assignment
The Law of Assignment (3rd Edition)
Instructions to Write Law Assignments
PPT

VIDEO

LML4806 COMPANY LAW assignment 1 2024 sem 2
Case Law Assignment
Final Law Assignment Video
Constitutional Law Assignment- Ika Rahmah Madaniyah_113_Class II-A
Civil Law Assignment
Final law assignment video April 24th 2024

COMMENTS

Understanding the Law of Assignment
This book sets out a different model of the workings of assignments as a matter of English law, one that provides an analytical, yet historically sensitive, framework which allows us to better understand how, and why, assignments work in the way the cases tell us they do. 'Chee Ho Tham has here produced a remarkably well-written, erudite and ...
Assignment
Assignment. The transfer of a right from one party to another. For example, a party to a contract (the assignor) may, as a general rule and subject to the express terms of a contract, assign its rights under the contract to a third party (the assignee) without the consent of the party against whom those rights are held. Obligations cannot be ...
Why It Matters (Chapter 15)
Summary. This chapter sets out a number of practical implications from the analysis in the preceding chapters. It explains how, on the model of equitable and statutory assignment set out in this book, anti-assignment clauses may have a limited effect even in connection with equitable assignments. It also explains how the 'rule' in Dearle v.
Assignment (law)
Assignment (law) Assignment[a] is a legal term used in the context of the laws of contract and of property. In both instances, assignment is the process whereby a person, the assignor, transfers rights or benefits to another, the assignee. [1] An assignment may not transfer a duty, burden or detriment without the express agreement of the assignee.
Assignments: The Basic Law
Ordinarily, the term assignment is limited to the transfer of rights that are intangible, like contractual rights and rights connected with property. Merchants Service Co. v. Small Claims Court, 35 Cal. 2d 109, 113-114 (Cal. 1950). An assignment will generally be permitted under the law unless there is an express prohibition against assignment ...
FAQs on assignments in finance transactions
the law of assignment in English law finance transactions. 1. Are all notified assignments legal assignments? No, while all legal assignments must have been notified to the debtor, notice to the debtor is not enough by itself to make an assignment a legal assignment. The full requirements for a
Introduction
1.01 The law of assignment is concerned with intangible property. Traditionally, English law has tended to use the label choses (or things) in action to describe this species of property, and this term is still widely used. As a result, in order to understand the historical development of the law of assignment it is at times necessary to make ...
Contracts: assignment
83% of customers are highly satisfied with Practical Law and would recommend to a colleague. 81% of customers agree that Practical Law saves them time. An outline of the ways in which contractual rights may be transferred to third parties by means of assignment, and the rule against assigning the burden, or obligations, of a contract.
RETHINKING ASSIGNABILITY
English law's answer to this question is complex, and many of its rules are difficult to justify. In some respects, the law appears unreasonably pro-assignment, whereas sometimes it denies assignability to rights that should be assignable. This article contends that, in developing the law of assignability, the judiciary and Parliament have ...
Assignment and novation
Legal and equitable assignment. The Law of Property Act creates the ability to legally assign a debt or any other chose in action where the debtor, trustee or other relevant person is notified in writing. If the assignment complied with the formalities in the Act it is a legal assignment, otherwise it will be an equitable assignment.
PDF Thinking and Assessing Charge and Assignment Under English Law
Charge and Assignment Under English Law ALESSIA FRISINA Chief Legal and Compliance Counsel, De Lage Landen Leasing Limited, UK Abstract - Introduction I have been working as a lawyer for several years in Europe, in countries governed by different legal systems. I have learned to love English law because of its practical
Assignments
The assignment. English law distinguishes two types of assignment: legal and equitable. To assign the legal interest in something means that you have assigned simply the title to that property and ...
Preface to the First Edition
The fact that the common law was largely disinclined to recognize assignments led to the dominance of equity and, thereafter, statute law. As a result, the law of assignment is one area of English law where the interplay between different classes of right remains a frustratingly real and important one, the theoretical and practical implications ...
Going Bare in the Law of Assignments: When is an Assignment Champertous?
Dr. David Capper's paper on The Assignment of a Bare Right to Litigate is a response to the Irish treatment of champerty and maintenance.1 It is judicious in its treatment of recent Irish and other common law precedent, and the conclusion it draws is a cautious one. Capper appears to sympathize with the concerns raised by courts in the United ...
assignment
assignment. Assignment is a legal term whereby an individual, the "assignor," transfers rights, property, or other benefits to another known as the " assignee.". This concept is used in both contract and property law. The term can refer to either the act of transfer or the rights /property/benefits being transferred.
If a contract is silent on assignment does the law imply that the
Where a contract is silent on assignment and transferability, i.e. there is no assignment and transfer provision, am I right that in my understanding that, under English law, the parties are deemed to have an unfettered right to assign and transfer their rights and obligations under the contract to a third party without having the need to obtain the other party's consent?
PROHIBITIONS ON ASSIGNMENT: A CHOICE TO BE MADE
16 Lord Browne-Wilkinson explained away the one English case that stood in the way of recognising the efficacy of prohibitions on assignment, Tom Shaw and Co v Moss Empires Ltd. (1908) 25 T.L.R. 190, on the basis that it was either an example of how a prohibition cannot prevent an accounting between assignor and assignee when the fruits of the ...
assign
Assign is the act of transferring rights, property, or other benefits to another party (the assignee) from the party who holds such benefits under contract (the assignor). This concept is used in both contract and property law. Contract Law Under contract law, when one party assigns a contract, the assignment represents both: (1) an assignment of rights; and (2) a delegation of duties.
The law of assignment : Smith, Marcus (Lawyer)
English Item Size 2.4G . xcix, 821 pages ; 26 cm "This new edition of The Law of Assignment provides a comprehensive treatment of the law relating to intangible property or choses in action. It considers all forms of intangible property (debts, rights under contract, securities, intellectual property, leases, rights/causes of action and ...
Legal assignment
Legal assignment. The usual way of assigning the benefit of any debt or other legal thing in action under section 136 of the Law of Property Act 1925. Under that section, the basic requirements for a legal assignment are as follows: Only the benefit of an agreement may be assigned. The assignment must be absolute. The rights to be assigned must ...
English law assignments of part of a debt: Practical considerations
Under English law, the beneficial ownership of part of a debt can be assigned, although the legal ownership cannot. 1 This means that an assignment of part of a debt will take effect as an equitable assignment instead of a legal assignment. Joining the assignor to proceedings against the debtor
www.bloomberglaw.com
M&A lawyers can use this guide to understand assignments and assumptions and how these mechanisms transfer contractual rights, obligations, and liabilities.
Assessing Assignability: Transferring Contractual ...
An assignment involves the transfer by an obligee (assignor) of some or all of its rights to receive performance under the contract to a non-party (assignee). The assignor no longer receives any benefits of the assigned rights, which are all transferred to the assignee. However, even though the assignor divests its contract rights, the ...
The Cambridge Law Journal
II. Consent in Novation. Many apprehend novation in a functional way and in contrast with assignment. Suppose A and B are the initial parties to a contract, and C is a stranger to them. English law generally allows B to assign its rights but not its obligations under the contract to C. Footnote 4 If B desires to "transfer" such rights and obligations it must obtain the consent, not just of ...