Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Assets
As′sets
,Noun.
pl.
1.
(Law)
(a)
Property of a deceased person, subject by law to the payment of his debts and legacies; – called assets because sufficient to render the executor or administrator liable to the creditors and legatees, so far as such goods or estate may extend.
Story.
Blackstone.
(b)
Effects of an insolvent debtor or bankrupt, applicable to the payment of debts.
2.
The entire property of all sorts, belonging to a person, a corporation, or an estate;
as, the
; – opposed to assets
of a merchant or a trading associationliabilities
. ☞ In balancing accounts the assets are put on the Cr. side and the debts on the Dr. side.
Webster 1828 Edition
Assets
ASSETS'
,Noun.
plu.
Goods or estate of a deceased person, sufficient to pay the debts of the deceased. But the word sufficient, though expressing the original signification of assets, is not with us necessary to the definition. In present usage, assets are the money, goods or estate of a deceased person, subject by law to the payment of his debts and legacies. Assets are real or personal; real assets are lands which descend to the heir, subject to the fulfillment of the obligations of the ancestor; personal assets are the money or goods of the deceased, or debts due to him, which come into the hands of the executor or administrator, or which he is bound to collect and convert into money.