240 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Roxburghe vs. Cox, (1881) 17 Ch. D. 520.
So that—
(1) If the Contract between the assignor and the debtor was voidable, the debtor can set up the viodable character of the contract against the assignee, even if the assignment was for valuable consideration.
(2) If the debtor had a right of set-off against the assignor, the same would be available to him against the assignee.
- The assignee is, however, free from equities arising after notice.
A debtor cannot diminish the rights of the assignee such as they are, on the date of notice, by any act done after date of notice.
Assignment of rights to be acquired in future
So far, we have dealt with assignments of rights which had accrued when the assignment had taken place.
We must consider the assignment of rights to be acquired in future.
Example of such rights :
(i) The expectancy of an heir-at-law to succeed to the Estate.
(ii) The expectancy of a next of kin to succeed to personality,
(iii) Freight not yet earned,
(iv) Future Book-debts.
At Common Law, they were all void. A man could not assign what he had not got. In equity, they were assignable, if for valuable consideration.
Equity treated them not as assignments but as contracts to assign, and when the assignee became possessed of it, he was compelled to perform his contract.
When the right was acquired by the assignor, the beneficial interest passed immediately to the assignee. But the legal interest remained with the assignor. So that, if the assignor transferred it to a subsequent assignee who gave value and had no notice of the previous assignment, the title of the subsequent assignee would prevail.