AIR 1955 SUPREME COURT 590 ::57 Pun LR 313

Supreme Court Of India

(From Punjab: AIR 1955 Punj 129 - At Delhi) 21st April 1955.

Hon'ble Judge(s): Vivian Bose, B. Jagannadhadas, B. P. Sinha , JJJ

(A) International Law (Private) - Debt arising in foreign country -Determination of its nature -'Lex situs' and "the proper law of the contract" Transfer of Property Act (4 of 1882) , S.130— A debt is property. It is a chose in action and is heritable and assignable and it is treated as property under the Transfer of Property Act which calls it an "actionable claim". Choses in action arising out of contract have two aspects: (1) as property and (2) as involving a contractual obligation for performance. The property aspect is relevant for purposes of assignment, administration, taxation and the like; the contractual aspect for performance.(Para 34 51) 'Debt, being intangible' cannot have location except notionally and in order to give it notional position rules have to be framed along arbitrary lines. Determination of the legal liabilities which arise out of the facts relating to a debt raises complex questions of private international law. Two distinct lines of thought emerge. One is that applied by the English Courts, namely, the 'lex situs'; the other is the one favoured by Cheshire in his book on private International law namely, the "proper law of the contract".(Para 32 34) When an involuntary assignment of a debt is effected by garnishment, it is prob....