in a quirk left over from the common law, if the assignment was donative, the "last assignee" is the true owner of the rights. however, if the assignment was for consideration, the "first assignee" to actually "collect against the assigned contract" is the true owner of the rights. under the modern "american rule", now followed in most u.s. jurisdictions, the first assignor with equity (i.e. the first to have paid for the assignment) will have the strongest claim, while remaining assignees may have other remedies. in some countries, the rights of the respective assignees are determined by the old common law rule in "dearle v hall".