Research

Scope and Content Note

An insolvent debtor could with consent of creditors assign his property to an assignee (trustee), who sold it to pay the creditors. The assignment consists of two parts: first, a summary of the insolvent debtor's petition for relief, the notice to creditors of the pending assignment, and the judge's direction that an assignment be made; second, the debtor's assignment of his real and personal property to an assignee. Accompanying the assignment is the judge's order discharging the debtor from debts contracted prior to the date of the assignment. All petitions were made to and discharges issued by the Recorder of the City of New York. The two volumes were later filed in the New York County Clerk's Office.