Spect v. Spect’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 federal appellate · 58 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 73 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Tlie right of the mortgagee to take possession of the mortgaged premises does not depend upon the statute. The mortgagor could at all times, even by a parol agreement, give to his mortgagee this additional security. Fogarty v. Sawyer, 17 Cal. 589 ; Edwards v. Wray, 11 Biss. 251 , 12 Fed. 42 . In taking such possession, the mortgagee does not thereby acquire any estate in the laud, or obtain for his mortgage any higher character, or any different or greater protection, than it would otherwise have possessed. In any action to enforce the mortgage, or to collect the debt for which it was given as security, the mortgagee has no additional rights by reason of the fact that he is in possession of the mortgaged premises with the consent of the mortgagor. “ Such possession does, however, give him rights in addition to those conferred by the mortgage. It is an additional security for the debt, which he is entitled to retain in accordance with the terms under which it was received. This right to retain the possession of the land is not coincident with a right to foreclose his mortgage, or dependent upon such riglit, but depends solely upon the existence of the debt. The possession of the land is a special security "for the debt, distinct and separate from tbe mortgage, which has been conferred by an act of the debtor, and the right to retain the same is independent of, and distinct from, any right springing from the mortgage.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Bullion & Exchange Bank v. Otto