154 Wis. 456 | Wis. | 1913
It is conceded, as tbe fact is, tbat a claim for material furnished by a subcontractor to be used in preparing land for use, as sucb, is not' lienable unless tbe written law so provides. So we must turn thereto for an answer to tbe question of whether tbe trial court erred in rendering judgment in plaintiffs favor.
Tbe statute, sec. 3314, provides tbat
.“Every person who, as principal contractor, does or causes ,or procures to be done any manual labor on land, for the purpose of preparing sucb land for use "as- sucb, shall have a like lien upon such land, subject to tbe same provisions and attaching to tbe same interests as tbe lien hereinbefore provided for.” . . . ■
It will be seen, at a glance, that liens for the preparation of land “for use as sucb” are allowed within very narrow limits. the statute gives a lien for “work or labor” and for “material” in seven classes of-cases, followed by the quoted language restricting liens in the particular class to labor, and to a particular kind of labor, to wit,, “manual labor.” We cannot escape the conclusion that the legislature, in making a claim for material lienable in numerous cases and restricting the statutory favor to “manual labor” in the particular class, so plainly did not intend to give a lien as broad in the latter as in the former, that no’permissible scope of judicial construction would justify the court in going contrary thereto.
Counsel confidently point to tbe language of sec. 3315, ex
By the Court. — The order is reversed, and the cause remanded for further proceedings according to law.