A glimpse upon anti-assignment clauses from the perspective of comparative law

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of a contractual prohibition on assignment and its embodiment in major European legal families. A thorough comparative overview reveals two legal principles concerning the contractual prohibition on assignment in any national legislation that serve as a founding stone of any respective set of rules in this matter. The first one, referred to as “the autonomy of the will” principle acknowledges the possibility for parties to exclude the transferability of a receivable with an absolute effect, enforceable against any third party. The second one, known as the “free alienability of assets” principle aims to promote the unrestricted transfer of rights over objects, thus limiting the effect of a prohibition on assignment to contracting parties only. This existing diversity testifies for the need to provide a harmonized approach to the anti-assignment clause. The paper calls for an adoption of the provisions of several soft law instruments with regard to the contractual prohibition on assignment due to their balanced legal approach.

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