280 Mass. 424 | Mass. | 1932
This case turns upon the question whether a chattel mortgage given by the plaintiff’s intestate to The American Agricultural Chemical Company upon a crop of tobacco is valid against the plaintiff administrator. The mortgage was given on April 1, 1930; and was duly recorded under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 255, § 1. Claflin v. Carpenter, 4 Met. 580. It purported to cover the 1930 crop about to be grown by the plaintiff’s intestate upon land owned or operated by him. The plaintiff contends that the mortgage does not cover the tobacco because when the mortgage was given the tobacco was not planted, and the mortgagee never afterwards received delivery or took possession.
The judge was right in ruling that the mortgage holds the crop. It is true that in general one cannot sell or mortgage what he does not own. Federal Trust Co. v. Bristol County Street Railway, 222 Mass. 35, 45. Taylor v. Barton Child Co. 228 Mass. 126. Davis v. Smith-Springfield Body Corp. 250 Mass. 278, 283. An exception has been estab
Certain restrictions upon the doctrine of potential interest, appearing in various jurisdictions with respect to a. mortgage of unplanted crops, namely, that the mortgage takes effect in equity only (Kelley v. Goodwin, 95 Maine, 538, Hurst & McWhorter v. Bell & Co. 72 Ala. 336, Patapsco Guano Co. v. Ballard, 107 Ala. 710, Apperson & Co. v. Moore, 30 Ark. 56, Danville State Bank v. May, 126 Kans. 714), that it is invalid as to purchasers without notice and
Decree affirmed with costs.