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LIEN
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LIEN , in See also:law. The word lien is literally the See also:French for a See also:band, See also:cord or See also:chain, and keeping in mind that meaning we see in what respect it differs from a See also:pledge on the one See also:hand and a See also:mortgage on the other. It is the See also:bond which attaches, a creditor's right to a debtor's See also:property, but which gives no right ad rem, i.e. to property in the thing; if the property is in the See also:possession of the creditor he may retain it, but in the See also:absence of See also:statute he cannot sell to recover what is due to him without the See also:ordinary legal See also:process against the debtor; and if it is not in possession,, the law would indeed assist him to seize the property, and will hold it for him, and enable him to sell it in due course and pay himself out of the proceeds, but does not give him the property itself. It is difficult to say at what See also:period the See also:term lien made its See also:appearance in See also:English law; it probably came from more than one source. In fact, it was used as a convenient phrase for any right against the owner of property in regard to the property not specially defined by other better recognized See also:species of See also:title.
The possessory lien of a tradesman for See also:work done on the thing, of a See also:carrier for his hire, and of an innkeeper for his See also:bill, would seem to be an inherent right which must have been in existence from the See also:dawn, or before the dawn, of See also:civilization. Probably the See also:man who made or repaired weapons in the See also: Common-Law Liens.—These may be either particular, i.e. a right over one or more specified articles for a particular See also:debt, or See also:general, i.e. for all debts owing to the creditor by the debtor. The requisites for a particular lien are, firstly, that the creditor should be in possession of the See also:article; secondly, that the debt should be incurred with reference to the article; and thirdly, that the amount of the debt should be certain. It may be created by See also:express See also:contract, by implied contract (such as the usage of a particular See also:trade or business), or as a consequence of the legal relation existing between the parties. As an example of the first, a shipowner at common law has a lien on the See also:cargo for the See also:freight; but though the shipper agrees to pay dead freight in addition, i.e. to pay freight on any space in the See also:ship which he fails to occupy with his cargo, the shipowner has no lien on the cargo for such dead freight except by express agreement. The most usual See also:form of the second is that which is termed a possessory lien—the right a ship-repairer has to retain a ship in his yard till he is paid for the See also:repairs executed upon her,' and the right a cobbler has to retain a pair of shoes till he is paid for the repairs done to them. But this lien is only in respect of the work done on, and consequent benefit received by, the subject of the lien. Hence an agistor of See also:cattle has no lien at common law upon them for the value of the pasturage consumed, though he may have one by agreement; nor a conveyancer upon deeds which he has not See also:drawn, but which are in his possession for reference, The most common example of the third is that of a carrier, who is See also:bound by law to carry for all persons, and has, therefore, a lien for the See also:price of the See also:carriage on the goods carried. It has been held that even if•the goods are stolen, and entrusted to the carrier by the thief, the carrier can hold them for the price of the carriage against the rightful owner. Of the same nature is the common-law lien of an innkeeper on the baggage of his customer for the amount of his See also:account, he being under a legal See also:obligation to entertain travellers generally. Another instance of the same class is where a See also:person has obtained possession of certain things over which he claims to hold a lien in the exercise of a legal right. For example, when a See also:lord of a See also:manor has seized cattle as estrays, he has a lien upon them for the expense of their keep as against the real owner; but the holder's claim must be specific, otherwise a general See also:tender of See also:compensation releases the lien. A general lien is a right of a creditor to retain property, not merely for charges See also:relating to it specifically, but for debts due on a general account. This not being a common-law right, is viewed by the English courts with the greatest See also:jealousy, and to be enforced must be strictly proved. This can be done by See also:proof either of an express or implied contract or of a general usage of
' This right, however, is not See also:absolute, but depends on the See also:custom of the See also:port (Raitt v. See also:Mitchell, 1815, 4 See also:Camp. 146).trade. The first of these is established by the ordinary methods or by previous dealings between the parties on such terms; the second is recognized in certain businesses; it would. probably be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to extend it at the See also:present See also:time to any other trades. When, however, a lien by general usage has once been judicially established, it becomes See also:part of the Law Merchant, and the courts are bound to recognize and enforce it. The best known and most important instance is the right of a See also:solicitor to retain papers in his hands belonging to his client until his account is settled. The solicitor's lien, though probably more commonly enforced than any other, is of no See also:great antiquity in English law, the earliest reported See also:case of it being in the reign of See also: In the second place there is what is called a charging lien—more correctly classed under the See also:head of equitable lien, since it does not require possession, but is a lien the solicitor holds over property recovered or preserved for his client. He had the lien on an See also:order by the court upon a fund in court by the common law, but as to property generally it was only given by 23 & 24 Vict. C. 127, § 28; and it has been held to attach to property recovered in a See also:probate See also:action (ex parte See also:Tweed, C.A. 1899, 2 Q.B. 167). A banker's lien is the right of a banker to retain securities belonging to his customer for money due on a general See also:balance. Other general liens, judicially established, are those of wharfingers, brokers and factors (which are in their nature akin to those of solicitors and bankers), and of See also:calico printers, packers of goods, fullers (at all events at See also:Exeter), dyers and millers; but in all these See also:special trades it is probable that the true reason is that the account due was for one continuous transaction. The calico would come to be printed, the goods to be packed, the See also:cloth to be bleached, the See also:silk to be dyed, and the See also:corn to be ground, in See also:separate parcels, and at different times, but all as one under-taking; and they are therefore, though spoken of as instances of general lien, only adaptations by the courts of the See also:doctrine of particular lien to special peculiarities of business. In none of these cases would the lien exist, in the absence of special agreement, for other matters of account, such as money See also:lent or goods sold. Equitable Liens.—" Where equity has jurisdiction to enforce rights and obligations growing out of an executory contract," e.g. in a suit for specific performance, " this equitable theory of remedies cannot be carried out unless the notion is admitted that the contract creates some right or See also:interest in or over specific property, which the See also:decree of the court can See also:lay hold of, and by means of which the equitable See also:relief can be made efficient. The doctrine of equitable liens supplies this necessary See also:element; and it was introduced for the See also:sole purpose of furnishing a ground for these specific remedies which equity confers, operating upon particular identified property instead of the general pecuniary recoveries granted by courts of common law. It follows, therefore, that in a large class of executory contracts express and implied, which the common law regards as creating no property, right nor interest analogous to property, but only a See also:mere See also:personal right to obligation, equity recognizes in addition to the personal obligation a particular right over the thing with which the See also:con-See also:tract deals, which it calls a lien, and which though not property is analogous to property, and by means of which the See also:plaintiff is enabled to follow the identical thing and to enforce the See also:defendant's obligation by a remedy which operates directly on the thing. The theory of equitable liens has its ultimate See also:foundation, therefore, in contracts express or implied which either See also:deal or in some manner relate to specific property, such as a tract of See also:land, particular chattels or securities, a certain fund and the like. It is necessary to divest oneself of the purely legal notion concerning the effects of such contracts, and to recognize the fact that equity regards them as creating a See also:charge upon, or hypothecation of, the specific thing, by means of which the personal obligation arising from the agreement may be more effectively enforced than by a mere pecuniary recovery at law " (See also:Pomeroy, 2 Eq. See also:Jur. 232). This description from an See also:American See also:text-See also:book seems to give at once the fullest and most concise definition and description of an equitable lien. It differs essentially from a common-law Iien, inasmuch as in the latter possession or occupation is as a See also:rule necessary, whereas in the equitable lien the person claiming the lien is seldom in possession or occupation of the property, its See also:object being to obtain the possession wholly or partially. A special instance of such a lien is that claimed by a publisher over the See also:copyright of a book which he has agreed to publish on terms which are not complied with—for example, the author attempting to get the book published elsewhere. It cannot perhaps be said that this has been absolutely decided to exist, but a strong See also:opinion of the English court of See also:exchequer towards the See also:close of the 18th See also:century was expressed in its favour (See also:Brook v. See also:Wentworth, 3 See also:Anstruther 88r). Other instances are the charging lien of a solicitor, and the lien of a person on improvements effected by him on the property of another who " lies by " and allows the work to be done before claiming the property. So also of a trustee for expenses lawfully incurred about the See also:trust property. The See also:power of a limited liability See also:company to create a lien upon its own shares was in 1901 established (See also:Allen v. See also:Gold Reefs, &c., C.A. 1goo, r Ch. 656). Maritime Liens,—Maritime lien differs from all the others yet considered, in its more elastic nature. Where a maritime lien has once attached to property—and it may and generally does attach without possession—it will continue to attach, unless lost by See also:laches, so See also:long as the thing to which it attaches exists, notwithstanding changes in the possession of and property in the thing, and notwithstanding that the new possessor or owner may be entirely ignorant of its existence; and even if enforced it leaves the owner's personal liability for any balance unrealized intact (the "Gemma," 1899, P. 285). So far as England is concerned, it must be See also:borne in mind that the courts of admiralty were conducted in accordance with the principles of civil law, and in that law both the pledge with possession and the hypothecation without possession were well recognized. The extreme convenience of such a right as the latter with regard to such essentially movable chattels as See also:ships is apparent. Strictly speaking, a maritime lien is confined to cases arising in those matters over which the courts of admiralty had See also:original jurisdiction, viz. collisions at See also:sea, seamen's wages, See also:salvage and See also:bottomry, in all of which cases the appropriate remedy is a proceeding in rem in the admiralty court. In the first of these—collisions at sea—if there were no maritime lien there would frequently be no remedy at all. When two ships have collided at sea it may well be that the See also:innocent ship knows neither the name nor the See also:nationality of the wrongdoer, and the See also:vessel may See also:escape with slight damage and not have to make a port of See also:refuge in the neighbourhood. Months afterwards it is ascertained that she was a See also:foreign ship, and in the See also:interval she has changed owners. Then, were it not a fact that a maritime lien invisible to the wrongdoer nevertheless attaches itself to his ship at the moment of collision, and continues to attach, the unfortunate owner of the innocent ship would have no remedy, except the doubtful one of pursuing the former owner of the wrong-doing vessel in his own See also:country in a personal action where such proceedings are allowed—which is by no means the case in all foreign countries. The same reasons apply, though not possibly with quite the same force, to the other classes of cases mentioned. Between 184o and 1873 the jurisdiction of the admiraltycourt was largely extended. At the latter date it was merged in the probate, See also:divorce and admiralty See also:division of the High Court of See also:Justice. Since the See also:merger questions have arisen as to how far the enlargement of jurisdiction has extended the principle of maritime lien. An interesting article on this subject by J. See also:Mansfield, See also:barrister-at-law, will be found in the Law Quarterly See also:Review, vol. iv., See also:October r888. It must be sufficient to See also:state here that where legislation has extended the already existing jurisdiction to which a maritime lien pertained, the maritime lien is extended to the subject See also:matter, but that where a new jurisdiction is given, or where a jurisdiction formerly existing without a maritime lien is extended, no maritime lien is given, though even then the extended jurisdiction can be enforced by proceedings in rem. Of the first class of extended jurisdictions are collisions, salvage and seamen's wages. Prior to 1840 the court of admiralty only had jurisdiction over these when occurring or earned on the high seas.. The jurisdiction, and with it the maritime lien, is extended to places within the See also:body of a county in collision• or salvage; and as to seamen's wages, whereas they were dependent on the earning of freight, they are now See also:free from any such limitation; and also, whereas the remedy in rem was limited to seamen's wages not earned under a special con-tract, it is now extended to all seamen's wages, and also to a See also:master's wages and disbursements, and the maritime lien covers all these. The new jurisdiction given over claims for damage to cargo carried into any port in England or See also:Wales, and on See also:appeal from the county courts over all claims for damage to cargo under boo, though it may be prosecuted by proceedings in rem, i.e. by See also:arrest of the ship, yet confers no maritime lien; and so also in the case of claims by material men (builders and fitters-out of ships) and for necessaries. Even though in the latter case the admiralty court had jurisdiction previously to 184o where the necessaries were supplied on the high seas, yet as it could not be shown that such jurisdiction had ever been held to confer a maritime lien, no such lien is given. Even now there is much doubt as to whether towage confers a maritime lien or not, the services rendered being pursuant to contract, and frequently to a contract made verbally or in See also:writing on the high seas, and being rendered also to a great extent on the high seas. In these cases and to that extent the high court of admiralty would have had original jurisdiction. But prior to 1840 towage, as now rendered by See also:steam tugs expressly employed for the service, was practically unknown, and therefore there was no established catena of precedent to show the exercise of a maritime lien. It may be argued on the one hand that towage is only a modified form of salvage, and therefore entitled to a maritime lien, and on the other that it is only a form of necessary power supplied like a new See also:sail or See also:mast to a ship to enable her to See also:complete her voyage expeditiously, and therefore of the nature of necessaries, and as such not entitled to a maritime lien. The matter is not of academical interest only, for though in the case of an inward-bound ship the tug owner can make use of his statutory ,tight of proceeding in rem, and so obtain much of the benefit of a maritime lien, yet in the case of an outward-bound ship, if she once gets away without See also:payment, and the agent or other authorized person refuses or is unable to pay, the tug owner's claim may, on the return of the ship to a See also:British port, be met by an allegation of a See also:change of ownership, which defeats his right of proceeding at all if he has no maritime lien; whereas if he has a maritime lien he can still proceed against the ship and recover his claim, if he has not been guilty of laches. A convenient division of the special liens other than possessory on ships may be made by classifying them as maritime, statutory-maritime or quasi-maritime, and statutory. The first attach only in the case of damage done by collision between ships on the high seas, salvage on the high seas, bottomry and seamen's wages so far as freight has been earned ; the second attach in cases of damage by collision within the body of a county, salvage within the body of a county, See also:life salvage everywhere, seamen's wages even if no freight has been earned, master's wages and disbursements. These two classes continue to attach notwithstanding a change of ownership without See also:notice of the lien, if there have been no laches in enforcing it (the "Bold See also:Buccleuch," 1852, 7 Moo. P.C. 267; the "See also:Kong See also:Magnus," 1891, P. 223). The third class, which only give a right to proceed
in rem, i.e. against the ship itself, attach, so long as there is no See also:bona fide change of ownership, without citing the owners, in all cases of claims for damage to ship and of claims for damage to cargo where no owner is domiciled in England or Wales. Irrespective of this limitation, they attach in all cases not only of damage to cargo, but also of breaches of contract to carry where the damage does not exceed £300, when the suit must be commenced in a county court having admiralty jurisdiction; and in cases of claims for necessaries supplied elsewhere than in the ship's See also:home port, for wages earned even under a special contract by masters and mariners, and of claims for towage. In all three classes the lien also exists over cargo where the suit from its nature extends to it, as in salvage and in some cases of bottomry or respondentia, and in cases where proceedings are taken against cargo by the shipowner for a See also:breach of contract (cargo ex " See also:Argos " and the " Hewsons," 1873, L.R. 5 P.C. 134; the " Alina," 188o, 5 Ex. D. 227).
Elsewhere than in England, and those countries such as the See also:United States which have adopted her See also:jurisprudence in maritime matters generally, the doctrine of maritime lien, or that which is substituted for it, is very differently treated. Speaking generally, those states which have adopted the See also:Napoleonic codes or modifications of them—See also:France, See also:Italy, See also:Spain, See also: This, indeed, was at one time the law of Great Britain; the measure of damage was limited by the value of the res; and in the United States at the present time a shipowner can get rid of his liability for damage by abandoning the ship and freight. A different rule prevails in See also:Germany and the Scandinavian states. There claims relating to the ship, unless the owner has specially rendered himself liable, confer no personal claim at all against him. The claim is limited ab initio to ship and freight, except in the case of seamen's wages, which do confer a personal claim so far as they have been earned on a voyage or passage completed prior to the loss of the ship. In all maritime states, however, except Spain, a See also:pro-visional arrest of the ship is allowed, and thus between the privilege accorded to the debt and the power to arrest till See also:bail is given or the ship abandoned to creditors, a See also:condition of things analogous to the maritime lien is established ; especially as these claims when the proper legal steps have been taken to render them valid—usually by endorsement on the ship's papers on See also:board, or by See also:registration at her port of registry—attach to the ship and follow her into the hands of a purchaser. They are in fact notice to him of the incumbrance. Duration of Lien.—So long as the party claiming the lien at common law retains the property, the lien continues, not-withstanding the debt in respect of which it is claimed becoming barred by the Statute of Limitations (See also:Higgins v. See also:Scott, 1831, 2 B. & Ald. 413). But if he takes proceedings at law to recover the debt, and on a sale of the goods to satisfy the See also:judgment purchases them himself, he so alters the nature of the possession that he loses his lien (See also:Jacobs v. Latour, 5 Bing. 130). An equitable lien probably in all cases continues, provided the purchaser of the subject matter has notice of the lien at the time of his See also:purchase. A maritime lien is in no respect subject to the Statute of Limitations, and continues in force notwithstanding a change in the ownership of the property without notice, and is only terminated when it has once attached, by laches on the part of the person claiming it (the " Kong Magnus," 1891, P. 223). There is an exception in the case of seamen's wages, where by 4 See also:Anne c. 16 (Scat. Rev. 4 & 5 Anne c. 3) all suits for seamen's wages in the Admiralty must be brought within six years. Ranking of Maritime Liens.—There may be several claimants holding maritime and other liens on the same vessel. For example, a foreign vessel comes into collision by her own See also:fault and is damaged and her cargo also; she is assisted into port by salvors and ultimately under a towage agreement, and put into the hands of a shipwright who does necessary repairs. The innocent party to the collision has a maritime lien for his damage, and the seamen for their wages; the cargo owner has a suit in rem or a statutory lien for damage, and the shipwright a possessory lien for the value of his repairs, while thetugs certainly have a right in rem and possibly a maritime lien also in the nature of salvage. The value of the property may be insufficient to pay all claims, and it becomes a matter of great consequence to See also:settle whether any, and if so which, have priority over the others, or whether all See also:rank alike and have to See also:divide the proceeds of the property pro See also:raid amongst them. The following general rules apply: liens for benefits conferred rank against the fund in the inverse, and those for the reparation of damage sustained in the See also:direct order of their attaching to the res; as between the two classes those last mentioned rank before those first mentioned of earlier date; as between liens of the same class and the same date, the first claimant has priority over others who have not taken action. The'courts of admiralty, however, allow equitable considerations, and enter into the question of marshalling See also:assets. For example, if one claimant has a lien on two funds, or an effective right of action in addition to his lien, and another claimant has only a lien upon one fund, the first claimant will be obliged to exhaust his second remedy before coming into competition with the second. As regards possessory liens, the shipwright takes the ship as she stands, i.e. with her incumbrances, and it appears that the lien for See also:seaman's wages takes See also:precedence of a solicitor's lien for See also:costs, under a charging order made in pursuance of the Solicitors Act 186o, § 28. Subject to equitable considerations, the true principle appears to be that services rendered under an actual or implied contract, which confer a maritime lien, make the holder of the lien in some sort a proprietor of the vessel, and therefore liable for damage done by her—hence the priority of the damage lien—but, directly it has attached, benefits conferred'on the property by enabling it to reach port. in safety benefit the holder of the damage lien in common with all other prior holders of maritime liens. It is less easy to see why of two damage liens the earlier should take precedence of the later, except on the principle that the res which came into collision the second time is depreciated in value by the amount of the existing lien upon her for the first collision, and where there was more than one damage lien, and also liens for benefits conferred prior to the first collision between the two collisions and subsequent to the second, the court would have to make a special order to meet the peculiar circumstances. The claim of a mortgagee naturally is deferred to all maritime liens, whether they are for benefits conferred on the property in which he is interested or for damage done by it, and also for the same reason to the possessory lien of the shipwright, but both the possessory lien of the shipwright and the claim of the mortgagee take precedence over a claim for necessaries, which only confers a statutory lien or a right to proceed in rem in certain cases. In other maritime states possessing codes of commercial law, the privileged debts are all set out in order of priority in these codes, though, as has been already pointed out, the lien for damage by collision—the most important in English law—has no counterpart inmost of the foreign codes. Stoppage in Transitu.—This is a lien held by an unpaid vendor in certain cases over goods sold after they have passed out of his actual possession. It has been much discussed whether it is an equitable or common-law right or lien. The fact appears to be that it has always been a part of the Law Merchant, which, properly speaking, is itself a part of the common law of England unless inconsistent with it. This particular right was, in the first instance, held by a court of equity to be equitable and not contrary to English law, and by that decision this particular part of the Law Merchant was approved and became part of the common law of England (see per Lord See also:Abinger in See also:Gibson v. Carruthers, 8 M. & W., p. 336 et seq.). It may be described as a lien by the Law Merchant, decided by equity to be part of the common law, but in its nature partaking rather of the See also:character of an equitable lien than one at common law. " It is a right which arises solely upon the insolvency of the buyer, and is based on the See also:plain reason of justice and equity that one man's goods shall not be applied to the payment of another, man's debts. If, therefore, after the vendor has delivered the goods out of his own possession and put them in the hands of a carrier for delivery to the buyer, he discovers that the buyer is insolvent, he may re-take the goods if he can before they reach the buyer's possession, and thus avoid having his property applied to paying debts due by the buyer to other See also:people " (See also:Benjamin on Sales, and ed., 289). This right, though only recognized by English law in 169o, is highly favoured by the courts on account of its See also:intrinsic justice, and extends to quasi-vendors, or persons in the same position, such as consignors who have bought on behalf of a See also:principal and forwarded the goods. It is, however, defeated by a lawful See also:transfer of the document of title to the goods by the vendor to a third person, who takes it bond fide and for valuable See also:consideration (Factors Act 1889; Sale of Goods Act 1893). See also:Assignment or Transfer of Lien.—A lien being a personal right acquired in respect of personal services, it cannot, as a rule, be assigned or transferred; but here again there are exceptions. The personal representative of the holder of a possessory lien on his decease would probably in all cases be held entitled to it; and it has been held that the lien over a client's papers remains with the See also:firm of solicitors notwithstanding changes in the constitution of the firm (See also:Gregory v. See also:Cresswell, 14 L.J. Ch. 300). So also where a solicitor, having a lien on documents for his costs, assigned the debt to his bankers with the benefit of the lien, it was held that the bankers might enforce such lien in equity. But though a tradesman has a lien on the property of his customer for his charges for work done upon it, where the property is delivered to him by a servant acting within the See also:scope of his employment, such lien cannot be transferred to the servant, even if he has paid the money himself; and the lien does not exist at all if the servant was acting without authority in delivering the goods, except where (as in the case of a common carrier) he is bound to receive the goods, in which case he retains his lien for the carriage against the rightful owner. Where, however, there is a lien on property of any sort not in possession, a person acquiring the property with knowledge of the lien takes it subject to such lien. This applies to equitable liens, and cannot apply to those common-law liens in which possession is necessary. It is, however, true that by statute certain common-law liens can be transferred, e.g. under the Merchant Shipping Act a master of a ship having a lien upon cargo for his freight can transfer the possession of the cargo to a wharfinger, and with it the lien (Merchant Shipping Act 1894, § 494). In this case, however, though the matter is simplified by the statute, if the wharfinger was constituted the agent or servant of the ship-master, his possession would be the possession of the shipmaster, and there would be no real transfer of the lien; therefore the common-law doctrine is not altered, only greater facilities for the furtherance of trade are given by the statute, enabling the wharfinger to act in his own name without reference to his principal, who may be at the other See also:side of the See also:world. So also a lien may be retained, notwithstanding that the property passes out of possession, where it has to be deposited in some special place (such as the Custom-See also:House) to comply with the law. Seamen cannot sell or assign or in any way part with their maritime lien for wages (Merchant Shipping Act 1894, § 156), but, nevertheless, with the See also:sanction of the court, a person who pays seamen their wages is entitled to stand in their place and exercise their rights (the See also:Cornelia Henrietta, 1866, L.R. r Ad. & Ec. 51). Waiver.—Any parting with the possession of goods is in general a waiver of the lien upon them; for example, when a See also:factor having a lien on the goods of his principal gives them to a carrier to be carried at the expense of his principal, even if undisclosed, he waives his lien, and has no right to stop the goods in transitu to recover it; so also where a See also:coach-builder who has a lien on a carriage for repairs allows the owner from time to time to take it out for use without expressly reserving his lien, he has waived it, nor has he a lien for the standage of the carriage except by express agreement, as mere standage does not give a possessory lien. It has even been held that where a portion of goods sold as a whole for a lump sum has been taken away and paid for proportionately, the See also:conversion has taken place and the lien for the See also:residue of the unpaid purchase-money has gone (Gurr v. See also:Cuthbert, 1843, 12 L.J. Ex. 309). Again, an See also:acceptance of See also:security for a debt is inconsistent with the existence of a lien, as it substitutes the See also:credit of the owner for the material See also:guarantee of the thing itself, and so acts as a waiver of the lien. For thesame reason even an agreement to take security is a waiver of the lien, though the security is not, in fact, given (See also:Alliance See also:Bank v. Broon, fi L.T. 332). Sale of Goods under Lien.—At common law the lien only gives a right to retain the goods, and ultimately to sell by legal process, against the owner; but in certain cases a right has been given by statute to sell without the intervention of legal process, such as the right of an innkeeper to sell the goods of his customer for his unpaid account (Innkeepers Act 1878, § i), the right of a wharfinger to sell goods entrusted to him by a shipowner with a lien upon them for freight, and also for their own charges (Merchant Shipping Act 1894, §§ 497, 498), and of a railway company to sell goods for their charges (Railway Clauses Act 1845, § 97)• Property affected by an equitable lien or a maritime lien cannot be sold by the holder of the lien without the inter-position of the court to enforce an order, or judgment of the court. In Admiralty cases, where a sale is necessary, no bail having been given and the property being under arrest, the sale is usually made by the See also:marshal in See also:London, but may be elsewhere on the parties concerned showing that a better price is likely to be obtained. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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