349. Appropriation of payments.

There is a general rule of law that, in the absence of any appropriation by the employer at the time of payment, the contractor is at liberty to appropriate a general payment on account to any debt he pleases1. However, when a payment has once been appropriated the appropriation cannot be varied subsequently without the consent of the debtor2. It is especially important, in the case of building and engineering contracts, to remember that the appropriation must be to a debt3. A contractor, therefore, cannot get over the non-fulfilment of a condition precedent to his right to payment by