Volume I  - 416 pp. 189312228X - Paperback US$34.95	Volume II - 411 pp. 1893122298 - Paperback US $34.95

An early comprehensive treatment of this important bankruptcy law subject.

Publisher Comments

Category: Law  | Bankruptcy & Restructuring This title is part of the Treatises list. Of Interest: A Treatise on the Law of Liens: Common Law, Statutory, Equitable, and Maritime  A Treatise on the Law of Lis Pendens: Or the Effect of Jurisdiction Upon Property Involved in Suit

Bankruptcy attorneys will be intrigued by this early comprehensive treatment of the law governing voluntary assignments for the benefit of creditors. i.e., transfers not under the compulsion of law by debtors of their property in trust for the payment of their debts. Presentation of the subject is made in the time order in which its various aspects occur. Thousands of cases are cited along the way.

Review by Henry Berry, Turnarounds and Workouts:

Voluntary Assignments for the Benefit of Creditors is a 1999 update of the classic nineteenth-century work on the important financial and business instrument known as “voluntary assignments.” The author of the original edition was Alexander M. Burrill, a noted legal scholar who also wrote a law dictionary and several other texts. Voluntary Assignments for the Benefit of Creditors is now in its sixth edition, with Avery-Webb authoring the update.

As defined by the authors, voluntary assignments for the benefit of creditors are “transfers, without compulsion of law, by debtors, of some or all of their property to an assignee or assignees, in trust to apply the same, or the proceeds thereof, to the payment of some or all of their debts, and to return the surplus, if any, to the owner.” Voluntary assignments offer businesspersons from small business owners to corporate executives great flexibility in raising capital. Considering the many ways that businesses can enter into voluntary assignments, the different ways of valuing properties “assigned,” and the changing value of these properties over time, the law governing voluntary assignment is complex.

The authors tackle the subject of voluntary assignments in all its breadth and depth.  During the 1800s, when Burrill’s work first came out, there were innumerable cases dealing with voluntary assignments. The case law of the 1800s remains authoritative, informative, and instructive today.

To render it comprehensible, the authors break down the subject matter into its many facets, thereby allowing lawyers and others to quickly reference areas of interest. These cases are listed alphabetically, and comprise more than fifty pages in a front section titled “Table of Cases.” Cases are also referred to in the text proper and in copious footnotes. The format of the text, including the footnotes, is the standard followed by many legal texts and handbooks, notably the multi-volume American Jurisprudence. The sections are numbered consecutively in forty-five chapters. There are 458 sections in all. The sections are relatively short, even though the subject of voluntary assignments is complex and there is bountiful case law.

Readers can peruse general topics such as execution of the assignment, construction of assignments, sale of the assigned property, and the rights, duties, and powers of the assignee. More specific, detailed topics can be accessed using the index. There are two appendices. The first contains synopses of the statutes of every state and territory on voluntary assignments. The second appendix contains nearly thirty standard forms that can be used for various aspects of assignments. 

Although voluminous and rigorous in its commentary and legal citations, the two-volume Voluntary Assignments for the Benefit of Creditors is neither dense nor ungainly.  Like a good lawyer breaking down a case so it can be comprehended by a jury of average persons, so does Burrill and Avery-Webb deal with the topic of voluntary assignments. 

Born in 1868 in Tennessee, James Avery-Webb (d. 1953) had a career as a prominent attorney in New York City.

home    |    about us     |     contact us    |     related sites