233 of his liabilities. To be valid, such an assignment must be executed by deed under seal, and acknowledged, delivered, and recorded with the same solemnity as attended the original conveyance.' An assignment of a mortgage, though endorsed on the mortgage-deed and delivered and recorded with it, will, if not executed under seal, convey only an equitable interest. It will not pass the legal estate, though it will authorize the assignee to enforce the mortgage in equity." It is as essential to record the assignment of a mortgage as it is to record the mortgage itself. As respects the mortgagor or his heirs or personal representatives, registration of the assignment is immaterial. Such parties are not bound to consult the record to ascertain whether the mortgage has been assigned; to charge them with notice of an assignment, something more is necessary than the registration of the instrument.2 It is the duty of the assignee of a mortgagee in order to protect himself against payments made to the mortgagee by the mortgagor, to give the latter express notice of his acquisition of the title. The purpose 235 of this rule is to save the mortgagor the necessity of examining the record every time he makes a payment to his mortgagee." This rule does not extend to purchasers of the equity of redemption, who are bound to take notice of all assignments recorded prior to taking title.' 237 87. The rule is practically universal that a bona fide assignee for value of a mortgage, which is secured by a negotiable instrument not yet due, takes the assignment free from any equities existing between the parties to the mortgage at the time of the assignment." The rule is equally settled that if the note be overdue at the time of the assignment, the assignee will take subject to the equities." 239 In some states, a bond which accompanies the mortgage is not a negotiable instrument, and the assignee of a bond 233 12 Gray (Mass.) 53 (1858). 2343 N. J. Eq. 14 (1834). 235 49 Pa. 282 (1865). 236 47 N. Y. 307 (1872). 237 103 N. Y. 556 (1886). 2386 Allen (Mass.) 86 (1863). 239 29 Me. 150 (1848); 15 Gray (Mass.) 520 (1860). 240 and mortgage takes subject to all the equities which prevailed between the parties at the time of the execution of the assignment.' In some states, it has been held that such an assignee will be bound by equities existing at the time of the assignment between the mortgagee and third persons." An assignee of a mortgage is never affected by equities of the original parties arising subsequently to the assignment, which had no existence or were simply possibilities at the time of the assignment."* 241 240 186 Pa. 431 (1898). 241 22 N. Y. 535 (1860). 242 90 Pa. 53 (1879). THE LAW OF PROPERTY (PART 4) PERSONAL PROPERTY 1. As hereinbefore explained, all property is either real or personal, the latter being defined "as the right or interest which a man has in things personal." The term personal property is applied to all those objects and rights, classified as corporeal or incorporeal, over which ownership may be exercised, which do not concern land, and also to all interests in land that are of certain and fixed duration, designated chattels real as distinguished from chattels personal; the latter term is used convertibly with personal property and personalty to designate all property that is not real estate, and comprises, "properly and strictly speaking, things movable, which may be carried about by the owner, and which accompany him at law wherever he may go." CORPOREAL PERSONAL PROPERTY CHATTELS PERSONAL 2. Chattels personal, for the present purpose, are further divided into things animate and things inanimate; that is, into such things, the subject of ownership, which can move themselves, and those things which are movable only through the application of external force.' 3. Of the animate kind are all animals having in themselves the power of motion; except human beings, which, since the abolition of slavery, can no longer be the subject of ownership. 1 Schoul. Per. Pr., Vol. 1, Sec. 9. 2 Ibid., Sec. 5. For notice of copyright, see page immediately following the title page Animals are distinguished into such as are tame, and such as are wild. The tame class includes all domestic animals, such as horses, cattle, sheep, and poultry, and are the subject of absolute property. Wild animals, on the contrary, while they are at large, belong to no one, although the state exercises a general ownership over them for the benefit of its citizens. But, when wild animals are dead, or in the possession of any one, property rights may be had in them. When killed, they belong to the owner of the land on which they were killed, unless the one who killed them had a right to be on the premises and to appropriate them to his own use. Wild animals in captivity belong to the one who keeps them; if they regain their liberty, they are no longer his property but belong to the first taker. These rules likewise apply to property in fish. Bees are wild animals. When they are hived, a person may have a qualified interest in them; if they fly away, they remain his so long as he can keep them in sight and has the power to pursue them; beyond that his property ceases." 4. Of the inanimate class are numerous and important rights and objects which pertain to the person of man, a full description of all of which it is unnecessary to give. Some, however, are of such universal interest that particular notice is accorded them here. 5. Money. - The common medium of exchange among civilized nations is called money. In a technical sense, money means coined metal, usually gold or silver, upon which the government stamp has been impressed to indicate its value. In a more general sense, it imports any circulating medium in general use as the measure and representative of value, which serves the purpose of coin in its absence or concurrently with it. 6. Currency means money only, but it includes both coined and paper money. The only practical distinction 32 Black. Comm. 390. * 11 H. L. C. (Eng.) 621 (1965). 5 15 Wend. (N. Y.) 550 (1836). |