Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 1.djvu/766

 758 FEDERAL EBPOBTEE. �From the statements in these receipf.s King supposed that Gill had made an assignaient to him of the mortgage on the margin of the record; btit, in faet, Grill did not assign the mortgage of record. This, however, was not discovered by King until after Gill had absconded. Within three days after Gill had left, King gave formai notice of his claim to Ham- ilton Lacock. �On September 11, 1877, Lacock paid Gill, for King, the first instalment of interest, for which Gill gave Lacock a receipt which states that the mortgage ia "now held by Mr. Wm. G. King." This interest Gill paid over to King. S. B. W. Gill was a member of the Pittsburgh bar, and until he left, in September, 1877, his professional standing was good, and he possessed the confidence of the community. �I bave been thus particular, in stating every fact which I regard as material, bocause I am constrained to dissent from the conclusion of the learned master in respect to the con- flicting assignments to PoUock and King, which he thus states : "Neither of them being entered of record in the recorder's office, on the margin of the recorded mortgage, it is simply a question as to whose assignment was first delivered." And, treating the assignment to PoUock as delivered when it was deposited in the post-office on April 9, 1877, he reports a decree in his favor for the portion of the mortgage assigned to him. But the case, it seems to me, is not one for the application of the maxim, qui prior est tempore potior est jure^ There are here other considerations besides that of time, which cannot be ignored if we would reach a just conclusion. �Mathew M. Pollock, it must be observed, parted with no money or other valuable thing upon the faith of the Lacock bond and mortgage. He had left in Gill's hands $1,000, to be by hina invested in a mortage at his discretion ; and uot in this particular mortgage, which was not then so much as mentioned. �In confiding his money to Gill, Pollock, in the first instance, trusted exclusively to his personal responsibility and integrity. His subsequent arrangement with Gill, which the latter carried ont, was for an assignment which was entirely inadec[uate for ��� �