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Lurger, Brigitta --- "Assignment" [2006] ELECD 158; in Smits, M. Jan (ed), "Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006)

Book Title: Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law

Editor(s): Smits, M. Jan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845420130

Section: Chapter 7

Section Title: Assignment

Author(s): Lurger, Brigitta

Number of pages: 14

Extract:

7 Assignment*
Brigitta Lurger


1 General remarks
The term `assignment' means a transaction whereby a right to performance
by a debtor is transferred from its owner, the `assignor', to another person,
the `assignee' on the basis of a legal provision (assignment by operation of
law) or on the basis of an agreement between assignor and assignee (assign-
ment by agreement). An assignment having been effected, the assignee is
entitled to sue the debtor for performance (Kötz, 1992, p. 52). The follow-
ing lines only deal with assignments by agreement and not with assign-
ments by operation of law. The transfer of title in property is outside the
scope of this chapter as well.
Rights to performance by a debtor (claims) are a very important asset
in domestic as well as international trade. Particularly, the assignment of
a company's claims plays an important role in the financing of the
company's regular business and in project financing. Frequently, the
assignment of a company's claims against its customers serves to secure
credit risks and as a source of repayment of credits. The use of claims as
instruments of financing is not only in the interest of the company itself,
but is more generally to be considered an efficient and desirable means
of using an economy's resources. Thus the legal rules on the assignment
of rights and claims are of considerable importance for large sectors of
the economy: the financing opportunities of companies dealing in goods
and services, the ...