Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 4.djvu/17

1 HARVARD LAW REVIEW. Vol. IV. APRIL 15, 1890. No. 1, THE STORY OF MORTGAGE LAW. THE idea of a lien upon the property of another is simple, and easy of apprehension. It must have prevailed at all times and among all civilized nations, and we find it in every sys- tem of law of which we have knowledge.^ It is so general and so deeply rooted among our people, that persons are constantly imagining a lien in cases where the law provides none. One new lien follows another in legislation, and each new-comer readily domesticates itself in the popular thought and speech. It is not essential to a ready apprehension of the idea of lien that the property be in the lienor's possession. A sailor's lien for wages follows a vessel all over the world, and an ignorant sea- man, on shore at Liverpool or at Boston, easily understands the hold which he has on a ship at the Straits of Malacca. The statutory mechanic's lien and material-man's lien on buildings and land, the liens of attaching and of judgment creditors, and tax liens on real estate, are thoroughly at home in the popular mind, so that a proposition to sell a house subject to mechanics* liens, or to taxes, conveys a precise and well-defined idea. There is nothing necessarily artificial or complex, therefore, in the giving of security upon real estate. The right to be given is easy of apprehension and easy of expression. ** In case I 1 See Hamilton's Hedaya, book xlviii.. Pawns.