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stripped of all its legal forms and features.' The lien binds the land in the hands of all persons except purchasers for value without notice, and one claiming under the vendee is necessarily charged with notice if the lien is expressly reserved in the deed, and this is recorded. No particular language is necessary to give rise to this lien, provided the intention to reserve the lien is clearly expressed;68 but the mere recital that the purchase money or a part thereof is unpaid is insufficient.69 This express lien may be assigned, and the benefit thereof will pass to the assignee of the whole or part of the purchase money secured by the lien.70

566. Vendor's lien before conveyance.

Upon the making of a contract for the sale of land, with a stipulation for the making of a conveyance in the future, as when the vendor gives a bond to convey upon the performance of certain conditions by the purchaser, the vendor becomes, as before explained, a trustee for the purchaser, and holds the legal title subject to the terms of the contract of sale.71 The equitable interest or estate which the purchaser has in such case is, however, subject to the right of the vendor to payment of the purchase price, and this right the vendor may, if necessary, enforce by a proceeding in equity somewhat analogous to the foreclosure of a mortgage, by which the vendee loses all his contract rights in the land.72 The courts,

66 3 Pomeroy, Eq. Jur. § 1257.

67 3 Pomeroy, Eq. Jur. §§ 1257, 1258; Dingley v. Bank of Ventura, 57 Cal. 467; Sidwell v. Wheaton, 114 Ill. 267; Stratton v. Gold, 40 Miss. 778; Eichelberger v. Gitt, 104 Pa. St. 64.

68 Moore v. Lackey, 53 Miss. 85; 3 Pomeroy, Eq. Jur. § 1256, note. 69 Hiester v. Green, 48 Pa. St. 96, 86 Am. Dec. 569.

To Ober v. Gallagher, 93 U. S. 199; Dowdy v. Blake, 50 Ark. 205, 7 Am. St. Rep. 88; Dingley v. Bank of Ventura, 57 Cal. 467; Markoe v. Andras, 67 Ill. 34; Duncan v. Louisville, 13 Bush (Ky.) 378; Bailey v. Smock, 61 Mo. 213; Moore v. Lackey, 53 Miss. 85.

71 See ante, § 110.

T2 Micou v. Ashurst, 55 Ala. 607; Sparks v. Hess, 15 Cal. 186, 194;

in referring to this right of the vendor to enforce his claim against the land, frequently assimilate the relation of the vendor and vendee to that of mortgagee and mortgagor;73 and the right of the vendor to enforce his claim for the price against the vendee's equitable interest in the land itself is frequently spoken of as a "vendor's lien,"-a use of the latter term which is to be carefully distinguished from its use to describe what we have treated of above under the name of "the implied lien of the grantor."74 Since the retention of the legal title shows a clear intention to rely on such title as security for payment of the price, a waiver of this right of the vendor will not be implied from the taking of other security for the price.75 This lien, so called, in favor of the vendor, passes to one to whom he transfers the right of action for the purchase money, as by an assignment of a note given therefor."

567. Vendee's lien.

The vendee under a contract for the sale of land has, in equity, before he receives a conveyance of the land, a lien

Gaston v. White, 46 Mo. 486; Moore v. Anders, 14 Ark. 628, 60 Am. Dec. 551.

78 Hardin v. Boyd, 113 U. S. 756; Moses v. Johnson, 88 Ala. 517, 16 Am. St. Rep. 58; Hutchinson v. Crane, 100 Ill. 269; Strickland v. Kirk, 51 Miss. 795; Graham v. McCampbell, Meigs (Tenn.) 56, 33 Am. Dec. 126; Church v. Smith, 39 Wts. 492.

74 The confusion arising from these different uses of the term "vendor's lien," and the essential distinctions between these various equitable rights, are admirably discussed in 3 Pomeroy, Eq. Jur. §§ 1260, 1261.

75 Robinson v. Appleton, 124 Ill. 276; McCaslin v. State, 44 Ind. 151; Hurley v. Hollyday, 35 Md. 469.

76 Burkhart v. Howard, 14 Or. 39; Stevens v. Chadwick, 10 Kan. 406, 15 Am. Rep. 348; Robinson v. Harbour, 42 Miss. 795, 97 Am. Dec. 501; McClintic v. Wise's Adm'rs, 25 Grat. (Va.) 448, 18 Am. Rep. 694; McConnell v. Beattie, 34 Ark. 113; Hutchinson v. Crane, 100 III. 269.

thereon for any payments which he has made upon the purchase price in case the contract fails of consummation owing to the fault of the vendor.77

11 Rose v. Watson, 10 H. L. Cas. 672; Stults v. Brown, 112 Ind. 370, 2 Am. St. Rep. 190; Cooper v. Merritt, 30 Ark. 686; Wickman v. Robinson; 14 Wis. 493, 80 Am. Dec. 789; Galbraith v. Reeves, 82 Tex. 857; 2 Story, Eq. Jur. § 1217; 8 Pomeroy, Eq. Jur. § 1263.

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Liens on another's land may exist by force of a statute, either expressly providing for a lien in a certain contingency, or in effect doing so by making the land liable for the enforcement of an obligation, without reference to its transfer to one not originally liable on the obligation. The principal statutory liens on land are (1) mechanics' liens, (2) judgment liens, (3) attachment liens, (4) execution liens, (5) liens for taxes and assessments, (6) the lien of a decedent's debts. Of occasional occurrence are (7) various liens on crops on the land, (8) the statutory lien for improvements, (9) the lien of the widow's allowance, and in some states there are other statutory liens.

§ 568. General considerations.

Since, at cominon law, no lien upon land was recognized, the only liens which can at the present day be imposed thereon, apart from equitable liens proper, and mortgages, the lien idea of which is the creation of equity, are those authorized by statute, known as "statutory liens." The legislatures of the various states, in providing for such liens, have followed the

same general lines of policy, and there are, it is believed, in but few states liens of a character not referred to in the following sections.

569. Mechanics' liens.

A mechanic's lien is a lien on land, and on the fixtures and improvements thereon, created by statute, to secure the compensation of persons who, under contract with the owner, or some person authorized in his behalf, contribute labor or materials to the improvement of the land.

Persons entitled to lien.

The statute usually provides that any person furnishing labor or materials for the erection or repair of a building shall have a lien on the land and the building, and it sometimes specifically names certain classes of persons so entitled, such as "mechanics," "laborers," "materialmen," "builders," or the like.1 A lien of this same general character is also sometimes given for work not in connection with the erection or repair of buildings, as for work upon bridges, canals, railroads, mines, fences, or machinery."

The earlier mechanic's lien statutes sometimes protected only those who furnished labor or materials otherwise than by direct contract with the owner of the land, and did not give a lien to a person contracting directly with the owner." The present statutes, however, always give a lien to a person furnishing labor or materials by direct contract with the owner, who is usually known as the "contractor."

11 Stimson's Am. St. Law, §§ 1961, 1962.

2 See, as to the statutes creating liens for work done in and about mines, Barringer & Adams, Mines, 771; for work done upon rail. roads, 2 Jones, Liens, §§ 1618-1625; Boisot, Mech. Liens, §§ 188-205.

Phillips, Mech. Liens, §§ 41, 42.

Phillips, Mech. Liens, §§ 36, 40; Boisot, Mech. Liens, § 218.

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