MECHANICS' LIENS. I. Nature, Grounds, and Subject-Matter in General. § 1. Nature of Lien in General. § 2. Constitutional and Statutory Provisions. § 4. Retroactive Operation of Lien Laws. § 6. § 7. § 8. Estates or Interest Which May Be Subject to Lien. (A) Nature of Improvement. § 11. Annexation or Benefit to Real Property. § 12. Fixtures in General. § 13. Improvements Outside Building. § 13 (1) In General. § 13 (2) Digging Wells. (B) Services Rendered and Materials Furnished. § 14. Architects, and Preparation of Plans and Specifications. § 15. Materials Used, but Not Incorporated in Work. § 16. Materials Prepared or Furnished, but Not Used. § 17. Services or Materials for Particular Building or Work. § 18. Reliance on Credit of Building or Property. (C) Agreement or Consent of Owner. § 19. Element of Lien in General. § 20. Ownership or Possession of Land. § 23. Necessity for Contract or Consent by Owner. § 27. $ 28. Husband or Wife. Agent or Other Representative. § 29. Form and Requisites of Contract or Consent. § 29 (1) Necessity of Writing. § 29 (2) Description of Property, Work, or Material. 30. Implied Contract or Consent. (E) Subcontractors' and Contractors' Workmen and Materialmen. § 37. Employees of Contractors or Subcontractors. § 38. Persons Furnishing Materials to Contractors or Subcontractors. § 39. Payment to Principal Contractor, or to Subcontractor Em- § 43. Necessity for Filing Claim or Statement. § 44. Filing One or More Claims against Different Buildings. § 45. Time for Filing Claim or Statement. § 45 (1) Maturity of Claim or Accrual of Indebtedness. § 45 (2) Successive Deliveries and Continuing Contracts. § 45 (3) Claims for Extras and Claimants without Special Con- § 54 (3) Averments on Knowledge or Information and Belief. § 70. Liens and Incumbrances in General. § 71. Attachments and Executions. V. Assignment of Lien or Claim. § 72. Effect of Assignment of Debt or Claim. VI. Waiver, Discharge, Release, and Satisfaction. § 73 (3) Time of Maturity of Note. $74. Persons Entitled to Assert Waiver. § 76. Nature and Form of Remedy in General. § 78. Joinder of Liens in Same Proceeding. § 85 (3) Contractor or Other Person Employing Claimant. § 87. § 88. $89. $ 90. $91. Declaration, Bill, Complaint, or Petition. § 87 (1) Form, Requisites, and Sufficiency in General. § 87 (2) Description of Property. § 87 (3) Description of Services or Materials and Purposes of Furnishings. § 87 (4) Averments as to Agreement or Consent of Owner. § 87 (5) Averments as to Completion of Work or Performance of Contract. § 87 (6) Itemized Statement or Account, or Bill of Particulars. § 87 (7) Averments as to Notice to Owner. § 87 (8) Averments as to Claim or Statement and Filing Thereof. § 87 (9) Joinder of Counts or Claims. Plea, Answer, or Affidavit of Defense. Cross-Bill or Cross-Complaint, and Answer Thereto. Issues, Proof, and Variance. § 92. Evidence. $ 93. $ 94. Admissibility. § 93 (1) In General. § 93 (2) Quality, Quantity, and Value of Work or Materials. § 93 (3) Contract and Making Thereof. § 93 (4) Book Accounts and Explanations Thereof. Weight and Sufficiency. § 94 (1) In General. § 94 (2) Time of Commencement and Completion of Work. § 95. Trial or Hearing. § 97 (2) Form, Requisites, and Sufficiency in General. § 97 (3) Indefiniteness. § 98. Judgment or Decree. § 98 (1) Rendition, Form, and Requisites in General. § 98 (2) Description and Extent of Land. § 98 (3) Conformity to Process, Pleadings, Proofs, and Verdict or Findings. § 98 (4) Directions as to Sale or Lease, and Priorities and Distribution of Proceeds. § 98 (5) Operation and Effect. § 99. Execution and Enforcement of Judgment in General. § 105 (1) In General. § 105 (2) Privity of Contract between Owner and Claimant. Personal Judgment against Contractor. § 106. § 107. Review. Cross References. See the titles LIENS; MARITIME LIENS; MASTER AND SERVANT. As to priority between mechanics' liens and assignments for benefit of creditors, see the title ASSIGNMENTS FOR BENEFIT OF CREDITORS. As to constitutionality of statutory provisions, see the title CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. As to enforcement of contracts, see the title CONTRACTS. As to proceedings against executors and administrators to enforce mechanics' lien, see the title EXECUTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS. As to effect of fraudulent conveyances, see the title FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCES. As to judgment on trial of issue as to authority of husband to have building erected on property of the wife, see the title HUSBAND AND WIFE. As to enforcement of mechanics' lien in justices court, see the title JUSTICES OF THE PEACE. As to matters relating to liens in general, and particularly liens on personal property, see the title LIENS. As to equitable liens, see the title LIENS. As to limitations in general, see the title LIMITATION OF ACTIONS, As to liens on vessels for construction or repairs, see the title MARITIME LIENS. As to liens for wages in general, see the title MASTER AND SERVANT. As to priority between mechanics' lien and mortgage, see the title MORTGAGES. As to matters of agency relating to mechanics' liens, see the title PRINCIPAL AND AGENT. As to liens on real property for work or material other than for building, see the title IMPROVEMENTS; MINES AND MINERALS; RAILROADS; and cther specific heads. As to priority between mechanics' lien and taxes, see the title TAXATION. I. NATURE, GROUNDS, AND SUB- § 1. Nature of Lien in General. pointed out by the statute. Porter & Co. v. Miles, 67 Ala. 130. § 2. Constitutional and Statutory Provisions. "Our present statutory system, defining and declaring liens of mechanics, See generally the title CONSTITUemployees and material men, for build- TIONAL LAW. As to statutes as to ings, erections, or improvements upon liability of retroactive operation of liens, lands, or for repairing the same, are of see post, "Retroactive Operation of Lien recent enactment, and their construc- Laws," § 4. As to statutes as to liabiltion, in the main, remains to be settled. ity of municipal corporations, see post, Such liens were unknown to the com- "Public Buildings and Other Property," mon law, and, hence, are purely of stat- § 6. As to statutes as to requisites and utory creation." Ex parte Schmidt, 62 validity of contracts of married women, Ala. 252, 255. See Copeland v. Kehoe, 67 see post, "Married Women," § 25; "NeAla. 594, 597. cessity of Writing," § 29 (1). The lien given by the statute to material men, is neither a jus in re, nor a jus ad rem, but simply a right to charge the property affected by it with the payment of the particular debt, in preference and priority to other debts, on compliance with the requisitions of the statute; and it is inchoate until perfected by the rendition of a judgment in rem, in the mode Constitutionality of Provisions.Code, § 3018, provides for a mechanics' lien on buildings or improvements and the land on which they are situated. Section 3019 declares what priorities shall exist between mechanics' and other liens. Section 3048 provides for the enforcement of mechanics' liens in equity. Act Feb. 12, 1891, repealed § 3018, and |