Also known as: impignorations · impignorata · impignorare · pawning · pledge
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
The act of pledging or pawning property as security for an obligation.
Isla Ireland needed operating funds and authorized impignoration of her business equipment to a supplier. The supplier took possession of the items as collateral for credit extended. Upon repayment Isla recovered the pledged equipment free of the security interest.
Ironwood Capital needed operating capital and authorized its officers to impignorate equipment and inventory. No shareholder vote occurred because the transaction fell under ordinary-course authority. The board recorded the pledge in the minutes without further approval.
Iris Energy sought a loan and resolved to impignorate a parcel of undeveloped land. The resolution cited the corporation's power to mortgage or pledge any part of its property. Lenders accepted the pledge and recorded the security interest.
Icarus Aviation acquired shares in a supplier and later decided to impignorate those shares to secure new financing. The transaction was documented as a pledge of interests in another entity. The lender perfected its security interest in the shares.
Infinity Bank issued bonds and resolved to impignorate its franchise rights and future income streams. The resolution expressly authorized the pledge of corporate property to secure the obligations. Bondholders received perfected security interests in the pledged assets.
Ines Ibarra operated a laundry and pledged her equipment to a supplier for credit. The supplier accepted the impignoration as security for the unpaid invoices. When Ines defaulted, the supplier enforced its rights under the pledge agreement.
Yick Wo and Wo Lee were Chinese subjects operating laundries in San Francisco. Both petitioners complied with every requisite deemed necessary by law or public officers for the protection of neighboring property from fire and against injury to the public health. The ordinances of the supervisors of the county and city of San Francisco conferred upon the supervisors a naked and arbitrary power to grant or withhold consent without reference to the personal character or qualifications of applicants or the adaptation of the buildings. They did not point to a regulation of the business of keeping and conducting laundries with a view to protection against fire. Applications for consent submitted by Yick Wo, Wo Lee, and more than two hundred other Chinese subjects were denied by the supervisors. At the same time, eighty individuals who were not Chinese subjects received permission to carry on the same business under similar conditions. Yick Wo was convicted and imprisoned for violating the ordinances. His case was brought to the Supreme Court of the United States by writ of error from the Supreme Court of California. Wo Lee's parallel case advanced through the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of California. The matters reached the Supreme Court of the United States for review of federal questions arising under the Constitution and treaties.
View caseThe act must involve a voluntary transfer of possession or a recorded interest in the property to the pledgee. The pledgor must intend to create security for an obligation. Courts examine whether the transaction meets the formal requirements of the governing statute or common-law rule.
Impignoration historically transfers possession of the pledged item to the creditor. A mortgage typically leaves possession with the debtor and creates a lien on real property. Modern statutes often treat both as forms of security interests but retain the historical distinction in terminology.
Model Business Corporation Act provisions allow a board to mortgage or pledge corporate assets in the ordinary course without shareholder consent unless the articles require otherwise. The act treats such pledges as within the corporation's general powers to incur secured obligations.
…a building block of our national community. For that reason, just as a couple vows to support each other, so does society pledge to support the couple, offering symbolic recognition and material benefits to protect and nourish the union. Indeed, while the States are in general free to vary the benefits they confer on…