inchoate lien
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 340 U.S. 47 - United States v. Security Trust & Savings Bank · 1950Most cited · 1,249 citing opinions
The attachment lien is contingent or inchoate—merely a lis pendens notice that a right to perfect a lien exists.
How the Supreme Court has restated “inchoate lien”
Each Supreme Court definition of “inchoate lien,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “inchoate lien”
Court decisions citing the 7 opinions that defined “inchoate lien” — 3,758 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 7 definitions, chronological · 1936–1964
- ORIGINAL
An inchoate lien is not enough to defeat the priority [of the United States]. Unless the law of Florida effected, at least as early as the date of insolvency, either a transfer of title from the company, or a specific perfected lien in favor of the Florida creditors, the United States is entitled to priority.
a lien which is to be effective for the amount of the taxes for the ensuing year as these are fixed by the defined statutory method... though inchoate on the day specified, and maturing when the extent of liability is ascertained by the statutory process
of necessity it was nothing more than an inchoate and general lien. Certainly it did not of its own force divest the taxpayer of either title or possession. It could not become specific until the exact amount of the taxes due had been determined, and it could not be enforced without the assistance of the courts. Like the tax lien in New York v. Maclay, supra, it served 'merely as a caveat of a more perfect lien to come.
As of the date of the voluntary assignment, it was neither specific nor perfected. It gave the landlord only a general power over unspecified property rather than an actual interest in a definitive portion or portions thereof. ... Such a potential, inchoate lien could not disturb the clear command of Section 3466 of the Revised Statutes. Something more than a 'caveat of a more perfect lien to come' was necessary.
the attachment lien in Ohio is for federal tax purposes an inchoate lien because, at the time the attachment issued, the fact and the amount of the lien were contingent upon the outcome of the suit for damages
The attachment lien is contingent or inchoate—merely a lis pendens notice that a right to perfect a lien exists.