Assignment

Assignment transfers contractual rights, but not burdens, from one party to another. In shipping it appears when a shipowner assigns earnings and insurances to a mortgagee, when a cargo interest assigns a policy claim to its insurer, or when a charterer assigns freight. English law splits legal (statutory) assignment under section 136 of the Law of Property Act 1925, which needs absolute transfer plus written notice to the debtor, from equitable assignment, which binds in equity without notice but requires the assignor as joined party. The assignee takes subject to equities, so any set-off or defense good against the assignor remains good against the assignee.