4 Colo. 558 | Colo. | 1879
Two questions are raised by appellants: 1st.. Whether the notice to other lien claimants was published in compliance with the statute; and 2d. Whether lien claimants not made parties and served with process are affected by the decree. The 9th section of the lien law. of 1872-(Sess. Laws, p. 152), under which the proceedings were had,, requires that “ the plaintiff shall cause a notice to be published at least once a wreek for three consecutive weeks in some newspaper published in the county, if there be one, and if not, then by posting the same in the three most public-places in the county, notifying all persons holding or claiming liens under the provisions of this act on said premises,, to be and appear in said court on a day specified therein, and during a regular term _ of said court, and to exhibit then and there the proofs of their said liens.”
The lien claimant, from whom the appellee derived title under the decree, caused such a notice to be published, three times in three consecutive weeks in a weekly paper,.
An examination of all the authorities we have been able to find, bearing upon this and similar cases, shows some contrariety of decisions by the courts of different States; much of this apparent conflict, however, is due to the construction put upon the precise language of different statutes.
The case most in point against the sufficiency of this notice is that of Shipley v. Mitchell, 7 Blackf. 473, where under a statute requiring publication “for three successive weeks ” before, etc., it was held that, while the language admitted of two constructions, the court was inclined to adopt that which required three full weeks to intervene between the date of the first publication and the time named. In a Pennsylvania case, where a notice was required to be given to a board’of commissioners “ three weeks before the time of meeting,” the court say : “ The order was not for notice during the three successive weeks, nor by a given number of insertions in newspapers in successive weeks, but it required a certain duration of time before the time of meeting,” and, therefore, it was held that “ three full weeks’ notice” was necessary. In re North Whitehall Township, 47. Penn. St. 160.
In the case of Mitchell v. Woodson, 37 Miss. 573, it was held that where the notice was required to be “ published weekly for one month, ” a full calendar month was intended and must be covered by the period of publication, dating from the first. The question in that case seemed to be merely whether a calendar or lunar month was intended, and hence is scarcely in point. The case of Early v. Doe, 16 How. 615, which is strongly relied on by counsel for appellant, is upon a statute requiring publication in some newspaper “ once in each week, for at least twelve
In Sweet v. Sprague, 55 Me. 190, the publication was required “three weeks successively.” The publications were made on the 15th, 22d and 29th days of the month, and the sale was advertised for the 30th of the same month. Although but fifteen days thus intervened between the first publication and the day of sale, the court holds that the statute was complied with. In New York this precise question was decided by the supreme court in the case of Sheldon v. Wright, 7 Barb. 40 (overruling an adverse anonymous opinion in 1 Wend. 90), which decision was afterward affirmed by the court of appeals, reported in 5 N. Y. 497.
Another case directly in point is that of Olcott v. Robinson, 21 N. Y. 150, wherein the court of appeals overrule the previous adverse decision of the same case in the supreme court reported in 20 Barb. 148. The statute required the notice to be “ advertised previously for six weeks successively.” The notice was published six times and in six successive weeks, although but thirty-eight days intervened between the first publication and the day of sale, and upon a review of the cases the court say : “It would seem, therefore, that the weight of authority preponderates decidedly in favor of holding that the publication of the notice, in thé
From a review of all the cases cited by counsel on both sides of this case, and all the other cases we have been able to find that bear upon the question, we are satisfied that while the statute in the present case will bear either of the two different constructions contended for, the one acted upon in this case seems to be the most obvious and is supported by the weight of authority. Had the legislature intended that the first publication of such notice should be three full weeks or twenty-one days previous to the time designated therein, nothing could have been easier than to have so expressed it.
One of the statutes enacted by the first legislative assembly of the Territory of Colorado, providing for service as to non-resident defendants, by publication, was in the following language, than which nothing could be more unmistakable in meaning: “Such publication to be made for four successive weeks, the first of which shall be at least' thirty days before the return day of the summons.” Acts of 1861, p. 183. This mode of service was also applied to proceedings to enforce our first Mechanics’ Lien Law. Id., p. 260, § 10.
That the present statute omits to distinctly express that the first publication shall be a given number of days before the time named, tends to strengthen the conviction that a different meaning was intended. Another consideration that should have some weight is that, undoubtedly, titles have passed throughout the State upon notices published as was that in the present case, and their disturbance should be avoided if consistent with a rightful construction of the act in question. That the mode of publication pursued in
The other question raised by appellants is, we think, settled by the statute itself.
Section 2 of the Mechanics’ Lien Act provides the mode of giving notice by lien claimants of their intention to hold and claim a lien, by filing a statement for record with the county clerk and recorder, and declares that “from the time of such filing all persons shall be deemed to have notice thereof.” Section 9 of the act provides the manner of enforcing the lien by action in the proper court.
Summons is to be served and returned as in chancery proceedings. The defendants proper, and who are to be thus served, we understand to be the owners of the property sought to be charged. Then follows the direction for publication of the notice in the newspaper or by posting, “notifying all persons holding or claiming liens under the provisions of this act, on said 'premises, to be and appear in said court on a day specified therein, and during a regular term of said court, and to exhibit then and there the proof of their said liens. * * * Judgment shall be rendered according to the rights of the parties, and all liens not so exhibited and proved shall be deemed to be waived in favor of those which are so exhibited.”
Here, then, is the statutory mode of giving notice to other lien claimants; first, of the intention to claim a lien by filing the statement; and, second, of the time and place of enforcing the same by the publication aforesaid. Upon compliance with these statutory requirements, by the party enforcing the lien, the other lien claimants are concluded; Phillips on Mechanics’ Liens, §§ 341, 4Ó1.
The judgment of the district court must be
Affirmed.