Newman v. Black
Newman v. Black
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is a bill in equity brought by H. & C. Newman et al. against J. M. Black et al. to set aside an assignment made by said Black for the benefit of his creditors.
It appears that on December 27, 1891, J. M. Black made an assignment, with certain preferences, for the benefit of all his creditors. The assignee treated this assignment as a partial •one, and took no steps to comply with the code provisions in reference to general assignments. The essential part of this assignment is as follows: C£I, J. M. Black, a merchant doing business in the town of Bolton, Mississippi, hereby convey and .assign to W. S. Wells, assignee, a portion of my assets described as follows: My entire stock of goods, wares and merchandise now in the store occupied by me in Bolton, Mississippi, known as the Lacey store, together with all the fixtures and all other articles of personal property in said store and connected therewith; also my books of account, notes and accounts, and indebtedness dire to me in said business, together with the deeds of trust and other evidences of debt due in my said business. ’ ’
The defendant, J. M. Black, was introduced as a witness for
There was an amended bill, which charged the assignee with fraud in dealing with the trust property after it came into his hands, and some evidence was offered in support of it. The property conveyed by the assignment does not appear to have been worth over $2,500.
On the final hearing, the chancellor dismissed the bill; and complainants appealed.
We agree with the finding of the chancellor that the evidence fails to show any actual fraud sufficient to affect the validity of this assignment. But it is urged that the assignment, while purporting to be partial, is in fact general, in that it conveys substantially all of the assignor’s property not exempt, and that, being a general assignment, it ought to have been so dealt with by the assignee. The principles of law governing such a case seem to be well settled, but the difficulty lies in applying them to the facts of a given case. Any assignment that purports to convey only specific property must be treated as a par
But the evidence for the complainants themselves in this case shows that a substantial part of the assignor’s property was omitted from the assignment. An undisputed claim, so far as this record shows, to one-third interest in one hundred and sixty-eight acres of Hinds county land, two head of cattle, twenty-five dollars in money, and, perhaps, a check for one hundred and fifty dollars, is too much property, in view of the small amount of the assets involved, and the general financial condition of our people, to be called trifling. The facts show that the assignment was partial, and the decree of the chancellor is
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- H. & C. Newman v. J. M. Black
- Cited By
- 1 case
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- Published
- Syllabus
- Assignment fob Creditors. Pci/rtial assignment by its terms. Property omitted therefrom. Exempt property. Preferences. Code of 1893, § 124. A merchant’s assignment of all his mercantile assets, worth not exceeding $2,500. that is a partial assignment by its terms, cannot be treated as a general one on the ground that it includes substantially all of his property, when 168 acres of land, two head of cattle, $175 and certain exempt property are omitted therefrom; and the preferences created thereby are not void for noncompliance with the statute in relation to general assignments.