1 Wash. 407 | Wash. | 1890
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The objections to the appeal herein urged by the appellee are as to irregularities not going to the jurisdiction of the court, and in view of the uncertainty existing at the time the appeal was taken, growing out of the change of the rules of this court and the unsettled practice thereunder, we do not think that they are such as should deprive the appellants of the right to be heard. The motion to dismiss the appeal is therefore denied.
Appellee sought to obtain judgment for material furnished by it for the erection of a certain frame building, and to foreclose a lien thereon for the material so furnished. Many questions have been argued here by counsel for the respective parties, but the view we take of the law of the case makes it unnecessary for us to' consider more than one.
The notice of the claim of lien was introduced in evidence, and from such notice it appeared that the description of the land upon which the lien was claimed, was “ all that certain plat of land situated at the southwesterly corner of Pike and Fourth streets, in the city of Seattle, King county, and State of Washington, being seventy feet on Pike street and on the southerly line thereof, by seventy-five feet front on Fourth street and on the westerly line thereof, excepting a space of twenty-two feet more or less wide on Pike street by about twenty-five feet deep; the same being a part of said lots 2 and 3 of said block 21, A. A. Denny’s addition aforesaid,” and was, in our opinion, so indefinite and
The notice of the lien described the building into which the material went so that it could probably be identified; and if a lien can be maintained upon a building, as such, separate from any interest in the land upon which it is situated,then the decreeof foreclosure in this case might be
Something has been said about the duty of courts to give a liberal interpretation to our statutes. And that such is the duty of all courts, made so by the statute itself, is very plain. But the most that a liberal interpretation can allow a court to do, is to look with leniency upon the language used, and determine, without regard to technical accuracy of language, what the legislature intended. When the intention of the legislature has been thus ascertained, it is beyond the power of a court to dispense with any of the steps prescribed. To hold that a lien could attach without a full compliance with the statute, as thus interpreted, would be contrary to the act itself, as well as to the consti
Under the circumstances of this case there can be no lien, and the cause will be remanded with instructions to set aside the judgment and decree, and enter a new judgment against defendant Phillips for the amount found due and unpaid for the material furnished, with interest thereon to date of judgment. Appellants will recover costs of this court.