[a. late Anglo-Fr. assets (Littleton, § 714), early AF. asetz (Britton, I. xvi. § 5), OF. asez enough, cogn. w. Pr. assatz, OSp. asaz, Pg. assaz, assas, It. assai:—late pop. L. ad satis ‘to sufficiency,’ substituted for simple satis ‘enough.’ The origin of the English use is to be found in the Anglo-French law phrase aver assetz ‘to have sufficient,’ viz. to meet certain claims; whence assets passed as a technical term into the vernacular. It was originally singular but was soon (from its final -s, and collective sense) treated as plural, and in modern use has a singular asset.]
1. Law. Originally: Sufficient estate or effects; esp. ‘Goods enough to discharge that burthen, which is cast upon the executor or heir, in satisfying the testator’s or ancestor’s debts and legacies’ Cowell. Chiefly in phrase To have assets.
1531. Dial. Laws of Eng., II. xlix. (1638), 154. If this man have assets by discent from the ancestor.
1574. trans. Littleton’s Tenures, § 714. Vnlesse that he hath Assets by discent in Fee simple.
1671. F. Philipps, Reg. Necess., 413.
1691. Southerne, Sir A. Love, III. i. (1721), 212. I shall fall like an Executor without assets.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., II. 244. This deed, obligation, or covenant, shall be binding upon the heir, so far forth only as he had any estate of inheritance vested in him by descent from that ancestor, sufficient to answer the charge … which sufficient estate is in law called assets.
1876. Digby, Real Prop., v. § 2. 216. The heir of the tenant in tail was not bound by his ancestor’s alienation … unless he had assets (lands in fee simple equivalent to those which had been granted away) by descent from his ancestor.
2. By extension applied to: Any property or effects liable to be applied as in sense 1, without regard to its being sufficient. (Still sing. in 17th c., but now a collective plural.)
Assets in hand: effects in the hands of executors which are applicable to discharge the testator’s debts.
1583. Babington, Commandm. To Gentl. Glamorg. An advouson in respect of the patron, is accounted no assets … because it is not valuable.
1601. Act 43 Eliz., iv. § 7. Any of them, havynge Assettes in Law or Equitie, soe farre as the same assettes will extende.
1705. Collier, Ess., III. 104. He left not assids enough to bury him.
1870. Pinkerton, Guide Administr., 39. If there are not sufficient assets in hand to pay all the debts of the Estate.
3. Law and Comm. Effects of an insolvent debtor or bankrupt, applicable to the payment of his debts; and by extension: All the property of a person or company which may be made liable for his or their debts. The Dr. and Cr. sides of a Balance Account contain ‘Assets’ and ‘Liabilities,’ respectively. (In this sense always used as plural, with singular asset applied to a single item appearing on the debit side.)
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, I. I. v. 89. The assets or effects of the London Company in India fell short of the debts of that concern.
1855. H. Spencer, Psychol. (1872), II. VII. viii. 382. Cheques and bills are accepted and passed on without enquiring whether there are assets to meet them.
1868. Pall Mall Gaz., 23 July, 4/1. The chances of a dividend depend upon the realization of two assets, one a large debt due by a trustee of the bank, and the other [etc.].
Mod. The former of these is a very doubtful asset.
4. fig.
1675. Wycherley, Pl. Dealer, II. (1735), 55. I, that am a relict of known plentiful assets and parts, who understand myself and the law.
1690. Dryden, Amphitryon. No more may be expected from him to Night, when he has no Assets.
1884. Daily News, 9 June, 3/2. The high character which the corps has won for sobriety and trustworthiness is in itself a valuable asset.
