Collerd v. Tully

77 A. 1079, 77 N.J. Eq. 439, 1910 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 23
CourtNew Jersey Court of Chancery
DecidedSeptember 12, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 77 A. 1079 (Collerd v. Tully) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Court of Chancery primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collerd v. Tully, 77 A. 1079, 77 N.J. Eq. 439, 1910 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 23 (N.J. Ct. App. 1910).

Opinion

Garrison, V. C.

(after statement of facts).

The various questions raised by the defendant Brown are as follows:

First. As to the amount due upon the respective mortgages held by the complainant.

Second. As to whether the first mortgage covered after-acquired property.

Third. Whether either of the mortgages covered the horses sold by Brown to Tully — Brown claiming that the sales were conditional, and that the title had not passed.

Fourth. As' to whether the second mortgage was not ineffective as to Brown because of a defective affidavit.

Fifth. If the second mortgage was invalid as to Brown, whether the proceeds of the sale of certain horses, on which horses Brown had no levy, should not, as respects Brown, be credited by the complainant on her first mortgage.

The complainant sought to show that Brown had not made a levy so as to entitle him to raise the questions he sought to raise.

First. As to the amounts due upon the mortgages for principal. The complainant admitted payments on the first mortgage to the amount of $525 in addition to the $1,000 paid before she acquired title thereto; and also admitted the payment of $100 on the second mortgage. Brown contended that the $100 credited by the complainant on the second mortgage should have been credited upon the first. The controversy arises out of four payments of $50 each made by Tully to the complainant. At the time the first mortgage was assigned to the complainant the defendant Tully signed a paper which has been admitted in evidence and marked Exhibit O 8, dated April 1st, 1903, as follows: “I John J. Tully do agree to pay Amelia Collerd twenty-five dollars a month on account of one mortgage to Effie C. Wynant.” * * *

The second mortgage, by its terms, provides that Tully. was to pay the amount in installments of $25 per month. Prior to the giving of the second mortgage (in January of 1905) Tully had been paying $25 a month to Collerd, which she credited on the mortgage she then held (the first mortgage); beginning with the month of January, 1905, Tully paid four sums of $50 per [443]*443month, which Mrs. Collercl then credited $35 on the first, and $35 on the second mortgage. I find that she properly credited the sums received, and that there has been paid $535 on the first mortgage in addition to the $1,000 paid before she acquired title, leaving $475 principal due thereon; and $100 on the second mortgage, leaving $1,300 principal due thereon.

Second. As to whether the first mortgage covered after-acquired property. The terms of the mortgage are:

“all the goods and chattels mentioned in the schedule hereunto annexed and now in the stable and premises No. 71 Oakland Avenue in the City of Jersey City aforesaid

and the schedule, after a specific description of various property (horses, trucks, harness, &c.), concludes:

“That all horses, trucks, wagons, carts and harness, purchased by the mortgagor during the life of this mortgage shall become immediately subject to the lien of this mortgage.”

It will be observed that in the body of the mortgage there is no reference to any other property than that contained in the stable premises designated; and that only in the schedule (to which the body of the instrument refers the inquirer for additional information) is the after-acquired property referred to.

The first query that presented itself to me was whether the absence of any reference in the body of the instrument to after-acquired property rendered the presence of the reference thereto in the schedule ineffective. After consideration I reached the conclusion that such was not the law, and that this clause in the schedule should be given the same effect as if it had been in the body of the'instrument. It was clearly the intention of the parties to pledge all the enumerated property and all of the designated kind that the mortgagor should afterward acquire. It appears from- the authorities that a chattel mortgage does not have to be in any particular form; that a description of the property mortgaged is sufficient if it indicates such property clearly euougli to enable one to determine what property is meant, and that this result is accomplished if the language used puts one on inquiry in such a way as to necessarily lead to knowledge [444]*444of the property intended to be mortgaged; and as to after-acquired property the rule is that the mortgage will be held to extend to such property, if the court, under the terms of the mortgage, would have decreed a specific performance of a contract to sell or’to pledge it.

After-acquired property clauses have been held sufficient where they covered “all property purchased in replenishment of stock,” “all property purchased in addition to the present stock,” and other like descriptions.

In each of these cases it will, of course, he observed that testimony de hors the instrument was required to identify the property.

The principles involved and applications thereof will be found in the following eases: Smithurst v. Edmunds (Chancellor Green, 1862), 14 N. J. Eq. (1 McCart.) 408; Shaw v. Glen (Chancellor Runyon, 1883), 37 N. J. Eq. (10 Stew.) 32; Howell v. Francis (Vice-Chancellor Bird, 1887), 10 Atl. Rep. 436; Dunn v. Hastings (Vice-Chancellor Pitney, 1896), 54 N. J. Eq. (9 Dick.) 503; Cumberland Bank v. Baker (Vice-Chancellor Grey, 1898), 57 N. J. Eq. (12 Dick.) 231 (at p. 237); Fidelity Trust Co. v. Staten Island Clay Co. (Vice-Chancellor Bergen, 1905), 70 N. J. Eq. (4 Robb.) 550 (at p. 553); Stoll v. Sibson (Vice-Chancellor Reed, 1905), 65 N. J. Eq. (20 Dick.) 552; Cunningham v. Alryan Woolen Mills (Vice-Chancellor Bergen, 1905), 69 N. J. Eq. (3 Robb.) 710 (at p. 712).

The next matter for consideration is whether the language used in this instrument is sufficient to make the mortgage effectual as to the after-acquired property — bearing in mind that the .test is the same as would he applicable in a case of specific performance.

If there is any doubt, in a case of specific performance, as to .what property the parties had in mind, or as to what property the language used is intended to describe, the court will not decree the performance, because the court will not attempt to make a contract for the parties. But if a man agrees to sell or to pledge all of any kind of property that he may acquire title to, there can be no uncertainty about that.

[445]*445Proof that he lias acquired title is proof of the thing intended to be transferred. This clause, therefore, will not fail because of uncertainty. If it be held bad it must be because the court finds that one cannot legally agree to pledge to another all of certain kinds of property to which he may in the future acquire title. I know of no such principle, and, in fact, many of the decided cases (cited above) show that there is no such principle. Among the cases above cited will be found instances, as before mentioned, where the after-acquired property clause related to stock to be bought in addition to that then on hand, and stock to be bought in replenishment thereof, and other similar phrases.

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Bluebook (online)
77 A. 1079, 77 N.J. Eq. 439, 1910 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 23, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collerd-v-tully-njch-1910.