Kollock v. Parcher

9 N.W. 67, 52 Wis. 393, 1881 Wisc. LEXIS 152
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedMay 10, 1881
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 9 N.W. 67 (Kollock v. Parcher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kollock v. Parcher, 9 N.W. 67, 52 Wis. 393, 1881 Wisc. LEXIS 152 (Wis. 1881).

Opinion

Taylor, J.

The evidence shows that the plaintiff kept a hotel in the city of Wausau, several miles from the place where the men were at work on the ties at the time he furnished them hoard. There is no claim made that the charges for board were unreasonably largo for men laboring as they were at the time. It is claimed by the appellants that board furnished laboring men at a hotel in the city, at a considerable distance from the place where they were at work, is not within the meaning of the statute which gives a lien for supplies. We are not disposed to hold that a hotel-keeper would have alien for such board if his charges were unreasonably large considering the employment the men were engaged in, and out of proportion when compared with the usual charges for board furnished men in like employments. We are not prepared to say that a man who was at work in getting out logs or timber of any kind could board at a hotel, where his daily charge for board would be more than his daily earnings, and make such charge for his board a lien upon the timber as against the owner thereof. We think, however, that under the statute as it was when these board bills were made, the fact that the board was furnished by a hotel-keeper does not of itself defeat a lien therefor, when the charges for the same are reasonable under all the circumstances. In this ease there is, in fact, no evidence which shows that the charges of the plaintiff were unnecessary or out of proportion, when considered with reference to the earnings of the men; and the objection to the board being supplies is, as we understand it, rested solely upon the fact that it was furnished by a hotel-keeper in the city, and at a considerable distance from the place where the work was done. We think these facts alone do not affect the rights of the plaintiff, and that if as a boarding-house-keeper he would have been entitled to a lien, he was entitled to it as a hotel-keeper.

Section 3330, R. S., as amended by section 1, ch. 167, Laws of 1879, declares that the word “supplies,” as applicable to [397]*397tbe comities named in section 3329, except the county of Marathon and other counties named in the section, shall be construed to mean feed used for teams, and the food necessarily used.m camp to support the men, and no other thing; and that, in the county of Marathon and several others named, the words “ supplies, rafting or other materials ” shall be construed to mean and include all rafting or other materials used by the men and teams in and about the cutting, felling, hauling, driving, running, rafting, cribbing or towing any such logs or timber which are usually used Toy men or teams when so employed, including food for both, and all materials and articles usually or necessarily used in rafting, booming or cribbing logs or timber, and all groceries and provisions, clothing and other ordinary articles used by a laboring man or his family while doing any such labor or services upon any such logs or timber, when the same is furnished to and does apply in payment for the labor and services on such logs and timber, and does riot exceed the value of such services and labor.”

It is not disputed that board furnished to the men employed is covered by both definitions of the word supplies,” above given in the statute; and if the first definition were applicable to Marathon county, it would be quite certain that the charge for board of men at a hotel in the city would not come within the definition of “supplies” as including only food for men necessarily used in camp; but the second definition is, by chapter 167, Laws of 1879, made applicable to Marathon county. This definition of the word “ supplies ” is much more liberal and broad, and includes food for the men whilst employed, and does not restrict it to food necessarily used in camp. If the words “which are usually used by men and teams when so employed, including food for both,” restrict the food for men to such board as is usually furnished to men in such employments, still we think there is nothing in the evidence in this case which takes the claim of the plaintiff out of the statute.

[398]*398It was suggested on the argument that, in order to have a claim for board of men under the statute, it could only be for such board as is furnished to the men whilst in camp. We think it is clear from the language of the statute,. that the word “ supplies,” as defined by the second clause of the statute, was not intended to limit it to the board or food furnished' in' camp. In the counties where the legislature so intended to limit it, it was done by express words in the first definition given. There is no limit as to the place where the board for the men shall be furnished in the second definition; and if there be any restriction, it is that it shall be such board as is' usually furnished to men in such employment. Upon this point we think the plaintiff produced sufficient evidence that his bill for board was a claim which would under the statute be a lien upon the ties manufactured by Waller under his contract with Cash.

It is further insisted by the learned counsel for the appel» lants, that ties are not “logs or lumber” within the meaning of the statute, and that, therefore, the plaintiff had no lien upon them, even though, his board bills were “ supplies ” within the definition given by the act above referred to. We think the word “timber,” as used in the statute, includes railroad ties. The statute uses but two words descriptive of the materials upon which the lien can attach, viz., “ logs and timber.” The word “logs,” as used in the statute, clearly means the stems or trunks of trees cut into convenient lengths for the purpose of being afterwards manufactured into lumber of various kinds, to supply the manifold wants of a civilized community, and does not include manufactured lumber of any kind, nor timber which is squared or otherwise shaped for use, without further change in form; and the word “timber” was clearly intended to include the same stems or trunks of trees when cut and shaped for use in the erection of buildings or other structures, and not to be manufactured into lumber within the ordinary meaning of the word “lumber.” Rail[399]*399road ties are usually made from the stems of small trees, and shaped for use in the construction of .a railroad track, and we think are as clearly timber, within the meaning of that word as used in the statute, as squared sticks of timber prepared for use as beams, sills and posts in the construction of a dwelling-house or other building. This seems to hare been the definition of the word as given by this court in the case of Babka v. Eldred, 47 Wis., 189, 192. This court, in the construction of the lien laws of the state, has been disposed to construe them liberally in favor of the parties for whose benefit they were enacted. See Hogan v. Cushing, 49 Wis., 169; Winslow v. Urquhart, 39 Wis., 260. And certainly a liberal construction of the word “ timber ” will include railroad ties when finished and ready to use in the construction of a railroad track.

The learned, counsel for the appellants also contended that they were not the absolute owners of the ties when they gave the bill of sale to Cash; that the bill of sale given to them by Waller was simply a mortgage to secure them for the amount due to them from Waller for advances made. We are at a loss to see how that fact could affect their liability under the contract made with Gash.

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Bluebook (online)
9 N.W. 67, 52 Wis. 393, 1881 Wisc. LEXIS 152, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kollock-v-parcher-wis-1881.