47 Minn. 247 | Minn. | 1891
An assignment of wages to be earned up to a certain date in the future, under an existing employment, if made in good faith and for a valuable consideration, is undoubtedly valid. If there be a subsisting engagement of employment, such an assignment will be valid, although the employment is for no definite period and may be terminated at any time by either party. It may be made as security, not only for present indebtedness, but also for future advances to be made to the assignor. If, however, it is a mere device to cover up the wages from the creditors of the assignor, it is, as to them, fraudulent and void.
The only question in this case is, to which of these classes does this assignment belong? This is purely a question of fact, to be determined from the evidence. The mere fact that it may have had the effect of hindering the plaintiff or other creditors of the defendant in collecting their claims is not,' of itself, sufficient to render the assignment void, in the absence of a fraudulent intent. Every assignment of property by an insolvent or embarrassed debtor, however lawful and honest, has in one sense the effect of hindering the creditors not provided for. To render the assignment fraudulent it must appear that it was a device entered into for the purpose of covering up the money, and putting it beyond the reach of creditors. A workman whose wages are payable monthly, or at other stated periods, may not have accumulated enough to support himself or family until pay-day, and it may therefore be an actual necessity for him to assign his future earnings for a given time as security for advances until pay-day arrives; and there is no law, civil or moral, prohibiting him from doing so for that or any other honest
Order affirmed.