Wood v. Kerkeslager

Citations

• 225 Pa. 296
• 74 A. 174
• 1909 Pa. LEXIS 651

Syllabus

<p>Bankruptcy — Preferences—Assignment—Equitable assignment — Letter of attorney.</p> <p>1. Where a person more than four months before he is declared an involuntary bankrupt executes a letter of attorney by which he authorizes an attorney at law to collect the whole of an award due him by a city in condemnation proceedings, and in the letter assigns certain portions of the fund to certain creditors, and directs the attorney after he has collected the award to pay the creditors the amounts named, such a paper is irrevocable, and constitutes an equitable assignment to the creditors named therein, and having been made four months before the bankruptcy proceedings is valid as against the trustee in bankruptcy. If in such a case the fund is paid by the agreement of all parties in interest, including the attorney, without prejudice to their rights, to a trustee to distribute, such trustee will stand in exactly the same position as the attorney.</p> <p>2. Where a letter of attorney forms a part of a contract, and is a security for money, or for the performance of any act which is deemed valuable, it is generally made irrevocable in terms, or if not so, is deemed irrevocable in law. Although a letter of attorney depends, from its nature, on the will of the person making it, and may, in general, be recalled at his will, yet, if he binds himself for a consideration, in terms, or by the nature of his contract, not to change his will, the law will not permit him to change it.</p>