Tennessee.-Acts of 1923, ch. 75. Virginia.-Code, Appendix, secs, 128, 129 (am. 1924, ch. 452). MECHANICS' LIENS CHATTELS The common law gave a mechanic or artisan making or repairing any article of personal property at the request of the owner or other properly authorized person a lien thereon for the value of his services. Where there is a contract price, recovery is limited to that amount. In many States statutes have been enacted providing specifically for the enforcement and discharge of such liens, separate laws being frequently enacted for specific classes of objects, as work on vehicles, on watches and jewelry, for horseshoeing, blacksmith work, automobiles, etc. In some jurisdictions, however, the common law lien is the sole recourse in cases of this nature; while in others a general law prescribes the processes to be observed in all cases of chattel liens. Illustrative of the chattel lien law is that of Illinois, which is of general application. It is as follows: ILLINOIS-ACTS OF 1921 Chattel liens SECTION 1. Who may have liens.-Every person, firm, or corporation who has expended labor, skill, or materials upon any chattel, or has furnished storage for said chattel, at the request of its owner, reputed owner, or authorized agent of the owner, or lawful possessor thereof, shall have a lien upon such chattel beginning on the date of the commencement of such expenditure of labor, skill, and materials or of such storage for the contract price for all such expenditure of labor, skill, or materials, or for all such storage, or in the absence of such contract price, for the reasonable worth of such expenditure of labor, skill, and materials, or of such storage, for a period of one year from and after the completion of such expenditure of labor, skill, or materials, or of such storage notwithstanding the fact that the possession of such chattel has been surrendered to the owner, or lawful possessor thereof. SEC. 2. Limitation; notice.-Such lien shall cease at the expiration of 60 days from the date of delivery of such chattel to the owner thereof, or his duly authorized agent, unless the lien claimant shall within said 60 days, file in the office of the recorder of deeds of the county in which said labor, skill, and materials were expended on such chattel, or storage furnished for such chattel, a lien notice, which notice shall state the name of the claimant, the name of the owner or reputed owner, a description of the chattel sufficient for identification, upon which the claimant has expended labor, skill, and material, or has furnished storage, the amount for which the lien is claimed, and the date upon which such expenditure or storage was completed, which notice shall be verified by the oath of the claimant, or by some one in his behalf, having personal knowledge of the facts, and may be in substantially the following form: Claimant v. Defendant. Notice is hereby given that claims a lien upon... - (describe the property) for, and on account of labor, skill, and materials expended upon, and storage furnished for the (property); that the name of the owner or reputed owner, is- -; that the said labor, skill, and materials were expended, or storage furnished upon the said property between the------day of and the-day of, and the rendition of the labor, skill, and materials so expended, or storage furnished by the claimant above named was completed on the day of; that 60 days have not elapsed since that time; that the amount claimant demand for said labor, skill, and ma -9 terials so expended, or storage furnished, is $------; that no part thereof has been paid except $. ----; and that there is now due and remaining unpaid thereon, after deducting all just credits and offsets, the sum of $ which amount he claims a lien upon said property. (Signed) in (Claimant) Address of claimant STATE OF ILLINOIS, 88. County of----ƒ I,, being first duly sworn, on oath say that I am ____ named in the foregoing.claim; that I have heard the same read, and know the contents thereof, and believe the same to be true. Subscribed and sworn to before me this______day of_____ SEC. 3. Recording.-Upon presentation of such notice to the recorder of deeds of any county, it shall be the duty of the said recorder of deeds to file the same in his office and to index the same in a book to be kept by him for that purpose and called “ index of liens upon chattels." The recorder of deeds shall be entitled to charge and receive from the person filing such a notice of lien the same fee received by him for the recording of other written instruments. SEC. 4. Rank. The lien created by this act shall be subject to the lien of any bona fide chattel mortgage upon the same chattel recorded prior to the commencement of any lien herein created, but said lien herein created shall be in addition to, and shall not exclude, any lien now existing at common law. SEC. 5. Discharge.-Any lien provided for in this act may be released and discharged by the lien claimant, or his agent, filing for record with the recorder of deeds a satisfaction piece, which shall be acknowledged in the same manner as provided by law for the acknowledgment of deeds, which shall also be indexed in the "index of liens upon chattels." The owner of said chattel may also file with the recorder of deeds any written document which would show or tend to show the nonexistence, satisfaction, or termination of such lien, which written document shall also be indexed in the "index of liens upon chattels." SEC. 6. [Provides in detail a method of procedure for foreclosing liens. See sec. 8.] SEC. 7. Costs. In all cases where suit is brought in the circuit court of any county in the State of Illinois for the purpose of foreclosing the lien herein provided, the court shall, upon entering judgment for the complainant, allow as a part of the costs in said suit all moneys paid, if any, for the foreclosure by advertisement and sale of the chattel under section 6 of this act, together with the costs of filing and recording such lien and certified copies thereof. SEC. 8. Validity, enforcement.-The invalidity of any section or sections of this act shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this act. If for any reason section 6 of this act shall be held to be invalid, the liens provided for in this act may be foreclosed by bill in equity in the circuit court of any county in the State of Illinois having jurisdiction of the persons or the subject matter. LIENS ON REALTY In the various States of the Union a lien is charged by statute on the real estate benefited by the erection or repair of buildings or by other improvements, to secure to laborers, contractors, subcontractors, and material men the payment of the wages or other sums due them for labor done or materials furnished under proper contract, oral, or written. As fairly representative of such statutes, the law enacted by the Congress of the United States to control the subject of liens in the District of Columbia is here reproduced, certain sections relating to proceedings in court and to the liens of innkeepers and liverymen being omitted. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-CODE Liens on real estate SECTION 1237. Lien given for what.-Every building erected, improved, added to, or repaired by the owner or his agent, and the lot of ground on which the same is erected, being all the ground used or intended to be used in connection therewith, or necessary to the use and enjoyment thereof, to the extent of the right, title, and interest, at that time existing, of such owner, whether owner in fee or of a less estate, or lessee for a term of years, or vendee in possession under a contract of sale, shall be subject to a lien in favor of the contractor with such owner or his duly authorized agent for the contract price agreed upon between them, or, in the absence of an express contract, for the reasonable value of the work and materials furnished for and about the erection, construction, improvement, or repair of or addition to such building, or the placing of any engine, machinery, or other thing therein or in connection therewith so as to become a fixture, though capable of being detached: Provided, That the person claiming the lien shall file the notice herein prescribed. SEC. 1238. Filing notice.-Any such contractor wishing to avail himself of the provision aforesaid, whether his claim be due or not, shall file in the office of the clerk of the supreme court of the District during the construction or within three months after the completion of such building, improvement, repairs, or addition, or the placing therein or in connection therewith of any engine, machinery, or other thing so as to become a fixture, a notice of his intention to hold a lien on the property hereby declared liable to such lien for the amount due or to become due to him, specifically setting forth the amount claimed, the name of the party against whose interest a lien is claimed, and a description of the property to be charged, and the said clerk shall file said notice and record the same in a book to be kept for the purpose. SEC. 1239. Subcontractors, etc.-Any person directly employed by the original contractor, whether as subcontractor, material man, or laborer, to furnish work or materials for the completion of the work contracted for as aforesaid, shall be entitled to a similar lien to that of the original contractor upon his filing a similar notice with the clerk of the supreme court of the District to that above mentioned, subject, however, to the conditions set forth in the following sections. SEC. 1240. Scope of lien.—All such liens in favor of parties so employed by the contractor shall be subject to the terms and conditions of the original contract except such as shall relate to the waiver of liens and shall be limited to the amount to become due to the original contractor and be satisfied, in whole or in part, out of said amount only; and if said original contractor, by reason of any breach of the contract on his part, shall be entitled to recover less than the amount agreed upon in his contract, the liens of said parties so employed by him shall be enforceable only for said reduced amount, and if said original contractor shall be entitled to recover nothing said liens shall not be enforceable at all. SEC. 1241. Notice to owner. The said subcontractor or other person employed by the contractor as aforesaid, besides filing a notice with the clerk of the supreme court as aforesaid, shall serve the same upon the owner of the property upon which the lien is claimed, by leaving a copy thereof with said owner or his agent, if said owner or agent be a resident of the District, or if neither can be found, by posting the same on the premises; and on his failure to do so, or until he shall do so, the said owner may make payments to his contractor according to the terms of his contract and to the extent of such payments the lien of the principal contractor shall be discharged and the amount for which the property shall be chargeable in favor of the parties so employed by him reduced. SEC. 1242. Owner bound.-After notice shall be filed by said party employed under the original contractor and a copy thereof served upon the owner or his agent as aforesaid, the owner shall be bound to retain out of any subsequent payments becoming due to the contractor a sufficient amount to satisfy any indebtedness due from said contractor to the said subcontractor, or other persons so employed by him, secured by lien as aforesaid, otherwise the said party shall be entitled to enforce his lien to the extent of the amount so aceruing to the principal contractor. SEC. 1243. Statement of terms.-Any subcontractor or other person employed by the contractor as aforesaid shall be entitled to demand of the owner or his authorized agent a statement of the terms under which the work contracted for is being done and the amount due or to become due to the contractor executing the same, and if the owner or his agent shall fail or refuse to give the said information, or willfully state falsely the terms of the contract or the amounts due or unpaid thereunder, the said property shall be liable to the lien of the said party demanding said information, in the same manner as if no payments had been made to the contractor before notice served on the owner as aforesaid. SEC. 1244. Advance payments.-If the owner, for the purpose of avoiding the provisions hereof, and defeating the lien of the subcontractor or other person employed by the contractor, as aforesaid, shall make payments to the contractor in advance of the time agreed upon therefor in the contract, and the amount still due or to become due to the contractor shall be insufficient to satisfy the liens of the subcontractors or others so employed by the contractor, the property shall remain subject to said liens in the same manner as if such payments had not been made. SEC. 1245. Rank of lien.-The lien hereby given shall be preferred to all judg ments, mortgages, deeds of trusts, liens, and incumbrances which attach upon the building or ground affected by said lien subsequently to the commencement of the work upon the building, as well as to conveyances executed, but not recorded, before that time, to which recording is necessary, as to third persons; except that nothing herein shall affect the priority of a mortgage or deed of trust given to secure the purchase money for the land, if the same be recorded within ten days from the date of the acknowledgment thereof. When a mortgage or deed of trust of real estate securing advances thereafter to be made for the purpose of erecting buildings and improvements thereon is given, or when an owner of lands contracts with a builder for the sale of lots and the erection of buildings thereon, and agrees to advance moneys toward the erection of such buildings, the lien hereinbefore authorized shall have priority to all advances made after the filing of said notices of lien, and the lien shall attach to the right, title, and interest of the owner in said building and land to the extent of all advances which shall have become due after the filing of such notice of such lien, and shall also attach to and be a lien on the right, title, and interest of the person so agreeing to purchase said land at the time of the filing of said notices of lien. When a building shall be erected or repaired by a lessee or tenant for life or years, or a person having an equitable estate or interest in such building or land on which it stands, the lien created by this act shall only extend to and cover the interest or estate of such lessee, tenant, or equitable owner. SEC. 1246. Enforcement. The proceeding to enforce the lien hereby given shall be a bill in equity, which shall contain a brief statement of the contract on which the claim is founded, the amount due thereon, the time when the notice was filed with the clerk, and a copy thereof served on the owner or his agent, if so served, and the time when the building or the work thereon was completed, with a description of the premises and other material facts; and shall pray that the premises be sold and the proceeds of sale applied to the satisfaction of the lien. If such suit be brought by any person entitled, other than the principal contractor, the latter shall be made a party defendant, as well as all other persons who may have filed notices of liens, as aforesaid. or any number of persons having liens on the same property may join in one suit, their respective claims being distinctly stated in separate paragraphs; and if several suits are brought by different claimants and are pending at the same time, the court may order them to be consolidated. All SEC. 1248. What liens first satisfied.-If the original contractor and the persons contracting or employed under him shall both have filed notices of liens, as aforesaid, the latter shall first be satisfied out of the proceeds of sale before the original contractor, but not in excess of the amount due him, and the balance, if any, of said amount shall be paid to him. SEC. 1249. Distribution of proceeds of sale.-If one, or some only, of the persons employed under the original contractor shall have served notice on the owner, as aforesaid, before payments made by him to the original contractor, said party or parties shall be entitled to priority of satisfaction out of said proceeds to the amount of such payments; but, subject to this provision, if the proceeds of sale, after paying thereout the costs of the suit, shall be insufficient to satisfy the liens of said parties employed under the original contractor the said proceeds shall be distributed ratably among them to the extent of the pay ments accruing to the original contractor subsequently to the service of notice on the owner by said parties, as aforesaid. SEC. 1250. Labor on two or more buildings.-In case of labor done or materials furnished for the erection or repair of two or more buildings joined together and owned by the same person or persons, it shall not be necessary to determine the amount of work done or materials furnished for each separate building, but only the aggregate amount upon all the buildings so joined, and the decree may be for the sale of all the buildings and the land on which they are erected as one building, or they may be sold separately if it shall seem best to the court. SEC. 1251. Limitation.-Any person entitled to a lien, as aforesaid, may commence his suit to enforce the same at any time within a year from and after the filing of the notice aforesaid or within six months from the completion of the building or repairs aforesaid, on his failure to do which the said lien shall cease to exist, unless his said claim be not due at the expiration of said periods, in which case the action must be commenced within three months after the said claim shall have become due. SEC. 1252. Contests as to ground.—If there be any contest as to the dimensions of the ground claimed to be subjected to the lien aforesaid, the court shall determine the same upon the evidence and describe the same in the decree of sale. SEC. 1253. Entry of satisfaction.-Whenever any person having a lien by virtue hereof shall have received satisfaction of his claim and cost, he shall, on the demand, and at the cost of the person interested, enter said claim satisfied, in the clerk's office aforesaid, and on his failure or refusal so to do he shall forfeit fifty dollars to the party aggrieved, and all damages that the latter may have sustained by reason of such failure or refusal. SEC. 1257. Personal judgments.-No subcontractor, material man, or workman employed under the original contractor shall be entitled to a personal judgment or decree against the owner of the premises for the amount due to him from said original contractor, except upon a special promise of such owner, in writing, for a sufficient consideration, to be answerable for the same. SEC. 1258. Same subject.-In any suit brought to enforce a lien by virtue of the provisions aforesaid, if the proceeds of the property affected thereby shall be insufficient to satisfy such lien, a personal judgment for the deficiency may be given in favor of the lien or against the owner of the premises or the original contractor, as the case may be, whichever contracted with him for the labor or materials furnished by him, provided such person be a party to the suit and shall have been personally served with process therein. SEC. 1259. Wharves.-Any person who shall furnish materials or labor in filling up any lot or in constructing any wharf thereon, or dredging the channel of the river in front of any wharf, under any contract with the owner, shall be entitled to a lien for the value of such work or materials on said lot and wharf upon the same conditions and to be enforced in the same manner as in the case of work done in the erection of buildings, as hereinbefore provided. SCOPE OF LAWS The following brief summary indicates the subject matter of the laws of the various jurisdictions, covering both real and personal property. Subject to lien are, as indicated above, the chattel worked upon and the realty improved; products of mines, quarries, oil and other wells, and the properties themselves; vessels built, repaired, operated, etc.; canals, bridges, roads, railroads, tramways, rolling stock, and franchises; logs, timber, lumber, etc.; animals shod; crops produced; and, in general, the article improved, produced, or otherwise affected by the labor for which the claim is made, together with the necessary adjunct or appurtenant property necessary to make it a severable, transferable unit. In some States a lien of laborers and subcontractors attaches to the fund from which the contractor is to be paid; or the principal may be authorized or directed to retain funds due contractors, on notice from such claimants. These provisions vary, of course, in the different States, as do details of meth |