Editing Assignment (law) (section)

{{Short description|In property law, the transfer of ownership of a thing from one person to another}}
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'''Assignment'''{{efn|Latin: ''cessio''}} is a legal term used in the context of the laws of [[contract]] and of [[property (law)|property]]. In both instances, assignment is the process whereby a person, the '''''assignor''''', transfers rights or benefits to another, the '''''assignee'''''.<ref name=":0">For the assignment of claim see [http://www.trans-lex.org/917000 Trans-Lex.org]</ref> An assignment may not transfer a duty, burden or detriment without the express agreement of the assignee. The right or benefit being assigned may be a gift (such as a [[waiver]]) or it may be paid for with a contractual [[consideration]] such as money.

The rights may be vested or contingent,<ref name="Normnan v FCT">{{cite AustLII|litigants=Norman v Federal Commissioner of Taxation|HCA|21|1963|parallelcite=(1963) 109 [[Commonwealth Law Reports|CLR]] 9 |courtname=auto}}.</ref> and may include an [[equitable interest]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Australian Law Dictionary|publisher=oxford university press|edition=second}}</ref>  Mortgages and loans are relatively straightforward and amenable to assignment. An assignor may assign rights, such as a [[mortgage note]] issued by a third party borrower, and this would require the latter to make repayments to the assignee.

A related concept of assignment is [[novation]] wherein, by agreement with all parties, one contracting party is replaced by a new party. While novation requires the consent of all parties, assignment needs no consent from other non-assigning parties. However, in the case of assignment, the consent of the non-assigning party may be required by a contractual provision.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cdnf.tlcollect.com/f1/cl/610/8172/TMT%20Newsletter%20August%202010%20v1d.pdf#page=3 |title=Tips and traps in contracting: novation versus assignment |last1=Kallenbach |first1=Paul |last2=Reid |first2=Nicole |publisher=[[MinterEllison]] |date=August 2010 |access-date=2018-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408073428/http://cdnf.tlcollect.com/f1/cl/610/8172/TMT%20Newsletter%20August%202010%20v1d.pdf#page=3 |archive-date=2018-04-08 |url-status=dead }}</ref>