Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 4.djvu/573

 TERRELL ». SOHOOUBB a. F. WOOLSBY. 559 �liams delivered to the plaintifif, who was a carver and gilder, certain pietures and pioture-f rames, the property of Williams, to perform certain work and labor on them, and fumish cer- tain materials for them. The plaintiff performed the work and Bupplied the materials, and Williams owed him therefor. The articles remained in the possession of the plaintiff under such lien, and they were taken by the sheriff on an execution sued out by the defendants against the plaintiff. The court said: "If vre consider the nature of a lien, and the right ■which it confers, it will be evident that it cannot form the subject-matter of a sale. A lien is a personal right, which cannot be parted with, and continues only so long as the possessor holds the goods. It is clear, therefore, that the sheriff cannot sell an interest of this description, which is a mere personal interest in the goods. * • * Here the interest cannot be transferred to any other individual ; it continues only so long as the holder keeps possession of the subject-matter of the lien, either by himself or his servant, Then, as the sheriff cannot sell, neither by the general rule of law can he seize; and there must, therefore, be judgment for the plaintiff." �In Somes v. British Empire Shipping Co. 8 House of Lords Cases, 338, it was held that a shipwright, who had a-possess- ory lien on a vessel for repairs, could not, if he kept the ves- sel to enforce payment, add to the amount for which the lien existed a charge for keeping the vessel till the payment of the debt. �In MuUiner v. Florence, L. R. 3 Q. B. Div. 485, the lien was that of aninnkeeper. The court said: "The very action of a lien is that if the person who is entitled to the lien, for his own benefit parts with the chattel over which he claims to exercise it, he is guilty of a tortious act. He must not dis- pose of the chattel, so as to give some one else a right of pos- session as against himself. The lien is the right of the creditor to retain the goods until the debt is paid." �The foregoing views apply to a common-law lien, such as the one in the present case; As there could be at common ����