I. TABLE OF STATES Which have adopted the Uniform Conditional Sales Act, showing, section for section, the corresponding provisions of the several state statutes. TEXT OF THE ACT [As approved by the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1918] Section 1. [Definition of Terms.] In this Act "Conditional sale" means (1) any contract for the sale of goods under which possession is delivered to the buyer and the property in the goods is to vest in the buyer at a subsequent time upon the payment of part or all of the price, or upon the performance of any other condition or the happening of any contingency; or (2) any contract for the bailment or leasing of goods by which the bailee or lessee contracts to pay as compensation a sum substantially equivalent to the value of the goods, and by which it is agreed that the bailee or lessee is bound to become, or has the option of becoming the owner of such goods upon full compliance with the terms of the contract. "Buyer" means the person who buys or hires the goods covered by the conditional sale, or any legal successor in interest of such person. "Filing district" means the sub-division of the state in which conditional sale contracts, or copies thereof, are required by this act to be filed. "Goods" means all chattels personal other than things in action and money, and includes emblements, industrial growing crops, and things attached to or forming a part of land which are agreed to be severed before sale or under the conditional sale. "Performance of the condition" means the occurrence of the event upon which the property in the goods is to vest in the buyer, whether such event is the performance of an act by the buyer or the happening of a contingency. "Person" includes an individual, partnership, corporation, and any other association. "Purchase" includes mortgage and pledge. "Seller" means the person who sells or leases the goods covered by the conditional sale, or any legal successor in interest of such person. Section 2. [Primary Rights of Buyer.] The buyer shall have the right when not in default to retain possession of the goods, and he shall also have the right to acquire the property in the goods on the performance of the conditions of the contract. The seller shall be liable to the buyer for the breach of all promises and warranties, express or implied, made in the conditional sale contract, whether or not the property in the goods has passed to the buyer. Section 3. [Primary Rights of Seller.] The buyer shall be liable to the seller for the purchase price, or for installments thereof, as the same shall become due, and for breach of all promises made by him in the conditional sale contract, whether or not the property in the goods has passed to the buyer. Section 4. [Conditional Sales Valid Except as Otherwise Provided.] Every provision in a conditional sale reserving property in the seller after possession of the goods is delivered to the buyer, shall be valid as to all persons, except as hereinafter otherwise provided. Section 5. [Conditional Sales Void Every provision in a conditional sale reserving property in the seller shall (839) as to Certain Persons.] be void as to any purchaser from or creditor of the buyer, who, without notice of such provision, purchases the goods or acquires by attachment or levy a lien upon them, before the contract or a copy thereof shall be filed as hereinafter provided, unless such contract or copy is so filed within ten days after the making of the conditional sale. Section 6. [Place of Filing.] The conditional sale contract or copy shall be filed in the office in [the city] [county] [registration district] in which the goods are first kept for use by the buyer after the sale. It shall not be necessary to the validity of such conditional sale contract, or in order to entitle it to be filed, that it be acknowledged or attested. This section shall not apply to the contracts described in Section 8. Section 7. [Fixtures.] If the goods are so affixed to realty, at the time of a conditional sale or subsequently as to become a part thereof and not to be severable wholly or in any portion without material injury to the freehold, the reservation of property as to any portion not so severable shall be void after the goods are so affixed, as against any person who has not expressly assented to the reservation. If the goods are so affixed to realty at the time of a conditional sale or subsequently as to become part thereof but to be severable without material injury to the freehold, the reservation of property shall be void after the goods are so affixed as against subsequent purchasers of the realty for value and without notice of the conditional seller's title, unless the conditional sale contract, or a copy thereof, together with a statement signed by the seller briefly describing the realty and stating that the goods are or are to be affixed thereto, shall be filed before such purchase in the office where a deed of the realty would be recorded or registered to affect such realty. As against the owner of realty the reservation of the property in goods by a conditional seller shall be void when such goods are to be so affixed to the realty as to become part thereof but to be severable without material injury to the freehold, unless the conditional sale contract, or a copy thereof, together with a statement signed by the seller briefly describing the realty and stating that the goods are to be affixed thereto, shall be filed before they are affixed, in the office where a deed would be recorded or registered to affect such realty. Section 8. [Railroad Equipment or Rolling Stock.] No conditional sale of railroad, or street or interurban railway equipment or rolling stock shall be valid as against the purchasers and creditors described in Section 5, unless the contract shall be acknowledged by the buyer or attested in like manner as a deed of real property, and the contract, or a copy thereof, shall be filed or recorded in the office of ; and unless when any engine or car so sold is delivered there shall then be plainly and conspicuously marked upon each side thereof the name of the seller, followed by the word "owner." Section 9. [Conditional Sale of Goods for Resale.] When goods are delivered under a conditional sale contract and the seller expressly or impliedly consents that the buyer may resell them prior to performance of the condition, the reservation of property shall be void against purchasers from the buyer for value in the ordinary course of business, and as to them the buyer shall be deemed the owner of the goods, even though the contract or a copy thereof shall be filed according to the provisions of this act. Section 10. [Filing.] The filing officer shall mark upon the contract or copy filed with him the day and hour of filing and shall file the contract or copy in his office for public inspection. He shall keep a separate book in which he shall enter the names of the seller and buyer, the date of the contract, the day and hour of filing, a brief description of goods, the price named in the contract and the date of cancellation thereof; except that in entering the contracts mentioned in Section 8 the Ishall record either the sum remaining to be paid upon the contract or the price of the goods. Such book shall be indexed under the names of both seller and buyer. For filing and entering such contract or copy the filing officer shall be entitled to a fee of [ten cents], except that for filing and entering a contract described in Section 8 the shall be entitled to a fee of [one dollar.] Section 11. [Refiling.] The filing of conditional sale contracts provided for in Sections 5, 6 and 7 shall be valid for a period of three years only. The filing of the contract provided for by Section 8 shall be valid for a period of fifteen years only. The validity of the filing may in each case be extended for successive additional periods of one year from the date of refiling by filing in the proper filing district a copy of the original contract within thirty days next preceding the expiration of each period, with a statement attached signed by the seller, showing that the contract is in force and the amount remaining to be paid thereon. Such copy, with statement attached, shall be filed and entered in the same manner as a contract or copy filed and entered for the first time, and the filing officer shall be entitled to a like fee as upon the original filing. Section 12. [Cancellation of Contract.] After the performance of the condition, upon written demand delivered personally or by registered mail by the buyer or any other person having an interest in the goods, the seller shall execute, acknowledge and deliver to the demandant a statement that the condition in the contract has been performed. If for ten days after such demand the seller fails to mail or deliver such a statement of satisfaction, he shall forfeit to the demandant five dollars [$5.00] and be liable for all damages suffered. Upon presentation of such statement of satisfaction the filing officer shall file the same and note the cancellation of the contract and the date thereof on the margin of the page where the contract has been entered. For filing and entering the statement of satisfaction the filing officer shall be entitled to a fee of [ten cents], except that the shall be entitled to a fee of [fifty cents] for filing and entering a statement of the satisfaction of a contract described in Section 8. Section 13. [Prohibition of Removal or Sale Without Notice.] Unless the contract otherwise provides, the buyer may, without the consent of the seller, remove the goods from any filing district and sell, mortgage or otherwise dispose of his interest in them; but prior to the performance of the condition, no such buyer shall remove the goods from a filing district in which the contract or a copy thereof is filed, except for temporary uses for a period of not more than thirty days, unless the buyer not less than ten days before such removal shall give the seller personally or by registered mail written notice of the place to which the goods are to be removed and the approximate time of such intended removal; not prior to the performance of the condition shall the buyer sell, mortgage or otherwise dispose of his interest in the goods, unless he, or the person to whom he is about to sell, mortgage or otherwise dispose of the same, shall notify the seller in writing personally or by registered mail of the name and address of the person to whom his interest in the goods is about to be sold, mortgaged or otherwise transferred, not less than ten days before such sale, mortgage or other disposal. If any buyer does so remove the goods, or does so sell, mortgage or otherwise dispose of his interest in them without such notice or in violation of the contract, the seller may retake possession of the goods and deal with them as in case of default in payment of part or all of the purchase price. The provisions of this section regarding the removal of goods shall not apply, however, to the goods described in Section 8. |