ON THE LAW OF PERSONAL PROPERTY BY HORACE E. SMITH, LL. D. LATE DEAN OF THE ALBANY LAW SCHOOL SECOND EDITION REVISED AND ENLARGED BY GEORGE LAWYER OF THE ALBANY BAR LECTURER ON THE LAW OF CONTRACTS AND PERSONAL PROPERTY CHICAGO T. H. FLOOD AND COMPANY. LAW BOOK PUBLISHERS 1908 Entered according to act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-three, by HORACE E. SMITH, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY JEANIE OLIVER SMITH STATE JOURNAL PRINTING COMPANY, MADISON, WIS. PREFACE. In the early history of our law under the English feudal system, personal property was regarded as of small consequence in comparison with real estate. The latter was the measure of wealth, and the gauge of social and political rank. It is quite different at present with the relative importance of the two kinds of property, especially in the United States. The great change in our country is the result of various causes; among which may be mentioned as prominent, the form and genius of our government, the character of our institutions, and the allodial system of land ownership. The last half century has witnessed an increase in new and varied industries, an enlargement and extension of commerce and manufactures, little less than marvelous, and marked changes in sociological conditions, all contributing to the volume and great importance of the law of personal property. The cultivation of this department of jurisprudence has not been equal to its demands, as measured by the importance of the subject, and its varied application to human relations and affairs. When this work was undertaken, the only American publication treating exclusively upon the subject of Personal Property, known to the author, was the learned and elaborate work of Mr. Schouler, in two volumes; while on most branches of the law there were numerous text-books at command of the profession. A practice of many years in the profession, supplemented by ten years' experience with students at the Albany Law School, impressed the writer with the conviction that a treatise on this subject, differing some |