52 Kan. 253 | Kan. | 1893
The opinion of the court was delivered by
It is contended that a mechanic’s lien cannot attach against public property. In this case, the public building is a courthouse, situated in the city of Mankato, in
It is next contended that §§ 638e and 638/ of the civil code imply that the lien ought not to attach to a public building, and that the bond provided for in said sections is a substitute for a iien. (Laws of 1887, ch. 179, §§ 1, 2.) These sections were enacted to protect mechanics, laborers and other persons furnishing material for the construction or improvement of public buildings. The remedy given by these sections to any person to whom there is due any sum for labor •or material does not supersede the mechanic’s lien law, but is an additional remedy to laborers and material men. With this conclusion, both statutes are made operative.
If the legislature had intended the bond mentioned in § 638e to be a substitute for the lien law, it would have used language similar to that in Laws of 1889, ch. 168, § 13. (Civil Code, § 638dL) It is therein provided that the bond permitted to be filed prevents any lien from attaching, and also discharges any lien existing when a bond is filed.
In the construction of the courthouse at Mankato, the county officers who entered into a contract for th,e purpose of having the courthouse constructed did not take from the contractors the bond prescribed by the statute, and therefore the parties named in the pleadings, who filed mechanics’ liens,
The judgment of the district court will be affirmed.