- Benefits not burdens
- a contractual obligation cannot be assigned without the consent of the other contracting party; that is, it is not possible to transfer the burden of a contract to a third party other than by novation.
- When we speak of assignment we are talking about assigning the benefits as we cannot assign burdens – we can only do this by novation
- NB: Linden Gardens Trust Ltd v Lenesta Sludge Disposals Ltd [1994] 1 AC 85 referred to – assignment of “the contract“ – we know now that it is trite law that it is impossible to assign “the contract” as a whole, in the sense that phase ie ‘including both burden and benefit’.
William A.J. Higgs PhD