21 Haw. 585 | Haw. | 1913
OPINION OP THE COURT BY
This is an action to enforce a lien for $457.58 for materials used in the construction of a dwelling house erected by defendants Usui and Horita in pursuance of a contract with defendant Bradley, owner of the land upon which the building was to be erected. Defendant Beakbane is alleged to have entered into a contract with Bradley while the building was under construction for the purchase of the building and the land whereon it stood. The circuit court rendered judgment against the contractors for the amount claimed and in favor of Bradley and Beakbane in relation to the lien. The only question presented upon plaintiff’s exceptions is as to the sufficiency of the description of the property, against which the lien is claimed, in the notice of lien filed as required by law in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the circuit in which the property is situated.
In the opening paragraph of the document so filed the plaintiff gives notice that he claims a lien “upon that certain piece or parcel of land situate at Palolo Valley, Honolulu aforesaid, known as Lot 8, Block 103, Palolo Tract, on a map or diagram of said tract filed in the office of the Registrar of Conveyances at Honolulu in Liber 252 on pages 327-330, together with the
Undisputed evidence adduced at the trial disclosed the follow7ing facts; that prior to the execution of the contract for the erection of the building Bradley, being the owner of the two adjoining lots numbered respectively 8 and 10 in Palolo tract, Honolulu, and each lot having a frontage of 75 feet on the street and a depth of 200 feet, sold to one Eieldgrove an L-shaped piece of land including the portion of lot 8, with a frontage of 50 feet, not adjoining lot 10 and the rear portion of lot 10 and of the remainder 'of lot 8, — thus reserving to himself the front portion of lot 10 and of the adjoining 25 foot strip of lot 8, a total frontage of 100 feet. Around the portion so reserved by Bradley a fence was erected and it was upon this reserved portion that the building contracted for was constructed. The structure was 36 feet square and stood in part upon lot 10 and in part upon lot 8, the part upon lot 8 being about 9 feet in width. Upon Eieldgrove’s portion of lot 8 stood at the date of the filing of the notice another one-story frame building.
The modern tendency is undoubtedly towards a liberal enforcement of laws giving mechanics and material-men a lien upon property made valuable by their labor and material and therefore towards a liberal construction of descriptions, in the notices of lien, of the property against which the lien is sought. Technical accuracy of description is not required. Looseness of description is condoned, often on the theory that the statutes contemplate that the claimants will prepare their own papers. It has been said that “if there appear enough in the description to enable a party familiar with the locality to identify the premises intended to be described with reasonable certainty to the
Under our statute (E. L. §2173) a lien cannot exist or be enforced against any of the structures there named separately from the interest of its owner in the land upon which it is situated (Emmeluth v. Au In Kwai, 20 Haw. 180) and the notice must contain a description of the property “sufficient to iden
The description contained in the notice filed by plaintiff is upon its face unambiguous. It relates to lot 8 exclusively. The building erected by tbe contractors is clearly stated to be situated on tbe “said premises” and on tbe “premises hereinbefore mentioned,” meaning lot 8 and none other; and there was a building on lot 8 of tbe same general nature as that described. Any intending purchaser searching for notices of liens on lot 10 would find no warning in this document of a claim against lot 10, or against any building on that lot. Tbe claim is clear and precise that tbe land sought to be charged is “Lot 8, Block 103, Palolo Tract” as shown on a map filed in “Liber 252 on pages 327-330” in tbe office of tbe registrar of conveyances. Tbe reference to tbe unrecorded agreement of sale and purchase, between Bradley and Beakbane, of “tbe premises hereinbefore mentioned and described” and of “tbe building thereon constructed” by tbe contractors, is insufficient to show that a lien was claimed.against lot 10 on which tbe building was so constructed, particularly in view of tbe fact that tbe claimant in tbe concluding paragraph summarizes bis claim as being against “tbe building or structure aforesaid and * * * said Lot 8, Block 103, Palolo Tract.” Tbe enclosed lot upon which tbe bouse was built is not mentioned in tbe instrument. Neither in tbe last paragraph nor elsewhere in tbe notice is a lien claimed, following tbe provision of tbe statute, in tbe land on which tbe building is situate. Had there been a general claim to that effect, perhaps tbe notice could have been construed to include a claim against lot 10. Tbe claimant having clearly designated
A lien does not exist in plaintiff’s favor against lot 8 because the building is substantially upon lot 10 and only to a «light extent upon lot 8. The statute grants a lien only against the land “upon which the same” (the structure) “is situated.” So, too, the lien is given only “upon such building” as a whole. The statute does not contemplate a lien upon a part of the building or the severance, upon execution, of a part from the remainder.
The exceptions are overruled.