Transfer of Rights and Obligations

This chapter compares the law on transfer of rights (i.e., assignment) in the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR), English law, and German law. It first considers cases in which the three systems produce similar results before concentrating on situations in which the results and the interactions with other areas of law differ. It then deals with the transfer of obligations. In their basic aspects, the laws of England, Germany, and the DCFR provide for functionally similar systems of assignment, but there are some differences in the mechanisms involved. Should the current provisions of the DCFR on assignment be included in a later version of an optional instrument, there will be a number of interactions with both English and German law in the sense that it will matter which system governs the agreements, particularly the agreement for assignment. Key differences include, inter alia, the proprietary aspects of the assignor's insolvency where the assignor is paid by the debtor, the priority rule for competing assignments, and the effects of a non-assignment clause.