35 Minn. 399 | Minn. | 1886
That a chattel mortgage of crops to be grown by the mortgagor on land in his possession is valid, must be regarded as settled in this court by Minnesota Linseed Oil Co. v. Maginnis, 32 Minn. 193, (20 N. W. Rep. 85.) And this brings us to the remaining question in the case, viz., whether our statute as to filing chattel
The statute also proceeds upon the idea that all property which can be the subject of a phattel mortgage has, in contemplation of law, a situs; that is to say, that it is in some town, city, or village in which the mortgage can be filed. Now, while the general principle is that the subject of a conveyance, in mortgage or otherwise, must be something in esse, the theory upon which chattel mortgages of crops to be grown are supported is that they are property having a potential existence, and that, the mortgagor being in possession of the land upon which they are to be grown, — that is to say, of the agent which is to produce them, and which has a fixed situs, — he has a present vested right to have the crops when they come into actual existence. Jones, Chat. Mortg. §§ 140, 144; Farmers', etc., Co. v. Long, etc., Co., 27 Hun, 89-91; Van Hoozer v. Cory, 34 Barb. 9; and see Wheeler v. Becker, 68 Iowa, 723, (28 N. W. Rep. 40.)
Assuming, as must be done, under the law as settled by this court in Minnesota Linseed Oil Co. v. Maginnis, supra, that chattel mortgages of future crops are valid, and therefore embraced in that general term as used by the legislature in chapter 39, supra, it would appear to follow that the potential existence spoken of must be taken to have been the existence which the legislature had in mind, as respects
Judgment affirmed.