Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

63 Ill. App. 577

Harris v. Wemple

Appellate Court of Illinois

Decided December 6, 1895

Appellate Court of Illinois · decided 1895-12-06

<p>1. Chattel Mortgages—When Fraudulent in Law.—A provision in a chattel mortgage that the mortgagor may retain possession of the mortgaged property and keep and use the same, when the property is of such a nature that it will necessarily be consumed and destroyed by any legitimate use which may be made of it, renders the mortgage fraudulent as a matter of law, and void as to third persons.</p> <p>2. Same—Provisions not Executed, Unavailing.—The fact that the mortgagor has not exercised the right to use the mortgaged property, where such use necessarily implies the consumption of the same, is of no avail to relieve the mortgage of the legal imputation of fraud.</p>

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently December 1929

1 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Affirmed · Decided 1895-12-06

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Mr. Justice Boggs

¶1delivered the opinion of the Court.

¶2Corn and oats, it is manifest, will be consumed and destroyed by any use that may be made of them.

¶3In Illinois, a provision in a chattel mortgage giving the mortgagor power to retain possession and dispose of the mortgaged property at his pleasure, renders the mortgage fraudulent as a matter of law, and void as to third persons.

¶4Power to dispose of mortgaged property is as effectually given by a provision which empowers the mortgagor to consume and destroy it by use as by one which authorizes him to dispose of it by bargain and sale, and each is equally obnoxious to the policy of our law, relative to such securities.

¶5The fact that the mortgagor did not exercise the power except to the extent of feeding the corn and oats to the mortgaged stock, can not avail to relieve the instrument of the legal imputation of fraud.

¶6This imputation arose because the mortgage reserved to the mortgagor an unlawful power to use and dispose of the property. Whether the mortgagor exercised this power in Avhole or in part was wholly inconsequential.

¶7Perhaps authority to use mortgaged grain by feeding it to stock covered by the same mortgage, would not render the mortgage objectionable as matter of law. Whether it could amount to a fraud in fact would be a question dependent upon the circumstances of the particular case. But unlimited power to use property Avhich must be consumed by use can only be regarded as a fraud in law as against third persons in Illinois.

¶8In Indiana and other jurisdictions where the legal imputations of fraud which here obtain are excluded by statute, and the question declared to be one of fact, a different rule prevails.

¶9Hence the decisions of the courts of those jurisdictions are not applicable.

¶10The judgment must be and is affirmed.

/63/illapp/577 · .json · Public domain