87 Pa. 263 | Pa. | 1878
delivered the opinion of the court,
On the 20th of June 1877, an instrument was executed by John Irvin & Brothers and John Irvin individually, in order to secure certain designated creditors, some thirty in number, who held claims against the firm. After reciting an indebtedness in sums not definitely ascertained, and the inability of the firm to satisfy the creditors by a payment in money, the instrument contained this concluding clause: “For value received, we hereby assign, transfer and set over to Wallace & Krebs, in payment of the above-named creditors, the judgments and claims as per annexed schedule, all the right, title and interest of us, the undersigned members of the firm of John Irvin & Brothers and of John Irvin individually.” A schedule of the judgments and claims was attached to this assignment. Some of the creditors named in the instrument were present and assented to the arrangement, some were represented by Messrs. Wallace & Krebs as counsel, and some were neither present nor represented. Wainwright & Co., the plaintiffs below, held a judgment against Irvin & Brothers, upon which they issued this attachment, the defendants in the judgments and claims assigned being served as garnishees. At the trial in the Common Pleas, the question as to the character of the paper executed by the Irvins was reserved, and the jury were instructed to render a verdict for the plaintiffs. Upon the ground that the instrument constituted an assignment for the benefit of creditors, and, as such, that it had not been recorded within thirty days, the court afterwards entered judgment on the verdict. This is alleged to have been error.
None of the Acts of Assembly relating to assignments for the benefit of creditors have required that they should be drawn in any specific form. Such instruments were well known and in common use when the Act of the 24th March 1818 was passed. And neither before nor after its passage was any particular collocation of words held necessary to give to a writing the effect of an assignment. Since 1818 property transferred to one person to be employed, paid over or converted for the benefit of others, has been regarded as property held in trust within the operation of the statutes. “ Of course,” Chief Justice Lowrie said, in Fallon’s Appeal, 6 Wright 235, “the courts cannot allow the law to be evaded by any sham departure from the general form of assignments; and when the transaction is substantially an assignment for the benefit of creditors, involving no other important purpose that would be prejudiced by bringing it under the Act of 1818 (now 1886),
In principle, this case is not distinguishable from that of the Miners’ National Bank’s Appeal, 7 P. F. Smith 193. In apparent features, indeed, the difference consists in the fact that the whole object of the transaction was expressed in that case with stated
Numerous authorities have been referred to and relied on by the counsel for the defendants. They have been examined and considered, and none of them have been found to support the allegation of error in this judgment. Chaffees v. Risk, 12 Harris 432, was the case of an assignment made directly to the creditors of the assignor. Judge Lewis said that by such an assignment “ the legal estate and the equitable interest are vested in one and the same person.” Henderson’s Appeal, 7 Casey 502, was also the case of an assignment of a number of claims in the hands of an attorney made directly to the persons beneficially interested. The claims were described by reference to a list which H. L. Richmond held. On the margin of this list, after the execution of the assignment, there was written: “I assign to H. L. Richmond this list of accounts for the uses named in his receipt to me of this dateand this was signed by the assignor. In the discussion by this court of the effect of these instruments, it was said: “The defendants insist that the debt of Townley, and all the debts in the list alluded to, did not pass under the assignment we have been considering; but was intended to pass under an assignment made the same day
It is to be kept in mind that Messrs. Wallace & Krebs had no beneficial interest whatever in the claims assigned to them. They were neither creditors nor purchasers; they had made no advances, and they had no lien. Under the facts presented, it is not believed that there is any precedent to warrant an interference by this court with the record made up in the Common Pleas.
Judgment affirmed.