67 Vt. 223 | Vt. | 1894
The plaintiff relies for recovery on a chattel mortgage of which he is assignee, wherein cattle of the kind in question are described as “two two-year-old heifers and three one-year-old heifers,” without more. The defendant was never a party to the mortgage, but purchased of the mortgagor after the mortgage was given.
There was no evidence before the referee tending to show that at the time the mortgage was executed the mortgagor “owned or 'was possessed of any stock of the kind described in the mortgage except what is therein described, and no claim was made that he did not then own and have in his possession all the stock which is described in the mortgage.” .It is found that the cattle in question were owned and possessed by the mortgagor at the time he gave the mortgage, and are the heifers that he attempted and intended to mortgage.
While it may often be difficult and sometimes impossible to describe property of this kind with such certainty that it can be identified without the aid of extrinsic evidence, yet the mortgage must contain some statement concerning the property that will serve to distinguish it from other property of the same kind when the existence of the. thing stated is made to appear, which may be done by evidence aliunde. The object of the mortgage is to convey specific property, not to give a right to any property of the kind mentioned. The extent of the mortgagee’s right is, to have claim on the identical property mortgaged, and if the description is so uncertain as to apply equally to any property of the kind described, there can be no identification without proving
As this view is decisive against the plaintiff’s right, it is unnecessary to consider any other question.
‘Judgment reversed, and judgment for the defendant to recover his costs.