other to carry such goods as are offered. This arises out of their holding themselves out to the world as ready to furnish such accommodations to all who may apply, and they are bound to make good their representations. Being under these extraordinary obligations and burdens, it is certainly no more than equitable that they should be entitled to extraordinary remedies. The right to retain baggage of a guest has sometimes been given by special statute to a boarding house keeper, but without special legislation this class of persons have no lien upon the property of their boarders.

An agistor (pasturer of cattle) or livery stable keeper has no lien, in the absence of an express agreement therefor.

Sailors at sea have a liberal lien upon goods wrecked, but finders of goods upon land have no lien, unless by statute regulation and provision. No man has a lien upon goods which he has acquired by a wrongful act.

As, if you pay charges upon goods without request of the owner, for the purpose of obtaining possession and a lien upon them, you do not thus secure a lien. Nor can one, who has acquired possession by misrepresentation and falsehood, although a debt is actually due him. A lien is not transferrable, therefore you cannot acquire one by assignment.

You cannot acquire a lien where the person, who gave you possession of the goods, had no authority to give possession.

As, where a thief delivers goods to a common carrier to be carried, the carrier acquires no lien. An exception to this rule has in some cases been made in favor of an innkeeper, on the ground that the animal fed by him had been benefited, and kept in life thereby for the owner.

SECTION 3.

How a Lien may be Lost.

We have spoken of a general common law lien, as a “right to retain possession of property till some charge upon it is paid." As to all such liens, the general principle is, that the lien ceases when the possession is voluntarily relinquished. If the surrender be induced by fraud, or compelled by force, the lien is not lost, but possession may be retaken, peaceably

if there is no resistance, and if there is opposition, by replevin.

Any change in the character of the holding destroys the lien; as, if the party entitled to it attaches the goods, or seizes them on execution.

If, when the goods are called for, the party does not assert his lien and his intention to rely upon it, but claims to retain them on some other ground, this would be evidence that he intended to waive his lien.

If a debt is secured by a lien upon property, and the parties agree subsequently upon a specified mode of payment, the creditor should expressly reserve his rights of lien, if he does not intend to waive them.

In all the cases, in which a lien is provided and secured by statute, the party entitled to its benefits will lose them, if he fails to proceed according to the requirements of the statute, to perfect and enforce it.

A giving of credit to any extent is inconsistent with the right of lien, and after the lien has been enjoyed by the seller's continuing possession, he must, if he would give time for payment, expressly stipulate that the lien shall continue, or it is lost.

MECHANICS LIEN.

Nearly all states have enacted lien laws, (to which refer.) Three things are usually required to be done by the person furnishing materials or performing labor, to secure his lien:

First. Notice must be given, by the person furnishing materials, to the owner, that he intends to claim such lien. Second. The contract, specification, certificate or claim, should be filed or recorded within a certain time.

The following form may generally be safely followed:

CERTIFICATE FOR WORK OR LABOR.-TO BE RECORDED. I, A. B., of hereby claim a lien upon the estate situated (here describe the premises); to secure payment of dollars and cents, being wages due me, after deducting all just credits, for work done and performed in

building, (altering or repairing, or furnishing materials, as the case may be,) said premises, according to the following bill:

(Here insert the bill.)

C. D.. of

is owner of said premises, and E. F.,

, the contractor, under whom the work was per

of

formed.

State of
County of

Personally appeared the above named A. B., and made oath (or affirmed) that the foregoing certificate by him subscribed is true.

Before me,

E. G., Justice of the Peace. Third. It is necessary. that action or suit on the lien. should be commenced within a specified time.

A petition to enforce a mechanics lien must contain a brief statement of the contract, upon which it is founded; that is, it must show what the contract was. The petition must aver that the person, with whom the contract was made, was either the owner of the premises, or was a person who had contracted with such owner for erecting, altering or repairing the building. Merely alleging him to be the contractor and supposed owner thereof is insufficient.-11 Cush. Rep., 308.

CHAPTER VIII.

OF TITLE BY GIFT.

RIGHTS in property may be acquired by gift, as well as by purchase; and of gifts there are in law two kinds :

1. Gifts simple and absolute, and to take effect immediately in the life time of the giver.

2. Gifts in apprehension of death, and which are not to take effect till after the death of the giver.

To perfect a gift of either species, delivery of the thing given is essential, which delivery must in this, as in other cases, be conformed to the nature of the thing given.

It must be an actual delivery, if the subject-matter given be capable of such delivery.

The giver must part with the possession, and with the control of the property.

If it be of a negotiable security, or other similar property, requiring an assignment or endorsement, the instrument of transfer must be actually executed.

When the gift is perfected, by delivery and acceptance, it becomes irrevocable, unless it be in fraud and prejudice of creditors, or unless the giver was under some legal incapacity, or was imposed upon and circumvented by artifice, misrepresentation or fraud.

A gift which would so divest the giver of estate, that his creditors could not secure their claims, would be voidable at their option.

A promise to give, however carefully made and clearly expressed, cannot be enforced, for reasons given in the chapter on contracts.

It is, till delivery, at the utmost, not more or higher in character than a promise or contract and, being without con

sideration, the law will not enforce it, but leaves it to rest upon the conscience and morality of the giver. It is of course immaterial that the promise to give is in writing, the defect not being one of form, or of evidence, but of substance; it is a naked promise, and the law does not respect it.

Gifts in apprehension of death are in this respect like a legacy, they do not take effect, and are not designed to do so, unless or until the giver shall die; but they differ from a legacy in several important respects. A legacy is secured by the formalities of a will, and the property given therein need not be delivered to the legatee, as in the case of a gift it must be; and a legacy takes effect upon the death of the giver, whenever he may die, and although he may have recovered from one or more sicknesses between the date of his will and his death; while if a donor of a gift causa mortis recovers from the sickness, which awakened apprehensions of death, he may recover the gift and retain it, as if no donation of the article had been made.

Though an exception to this would occur when the apprehension of death arose from old age and infirmity, as old age must continue and increase till the gift is perfected by the occurrence of that which was apprehended.

The delivery of a note of a third person, or of bank bills, or of a bond and mortgage, would probably be held good as a gift in apprehension of death, though the cases are not uniform.

3. Gift of chattels to a married daughter to her separate

use.

of

I, A. B., of

in the County of

, and State merchant, in consideration of affection for my daughter E. A., wife of R. A., of aforesaid, and for divers other good and valuable considerations, do hereby give to my said daughter E. A., her heirs and assigns, all and singular the goods and chattels following, to wit: (or, say, goods and chattels mentioned in the schedule hereto annexed.) 3 Bureaus,-marked E. A. on the back.

1 Table,-marked E. A. on the leaf.

11 Mahogany Chairs,-marked E. A. under the bottom.