58 Ga. App. 691 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1938
B. E. Goodrich Company instituted a trover suit against C. J. Passieu, to recover certain automobile truck tires and tubes. The judge, trying the case without a jury, found for the plaintiff, and the defendant excepted. The question for determination is whether the title retained by a duly recorded contract retaining title to tires and tubes is superior to the title to the same tires and tubes by virtue of title retained by a previous duly recorded contract retaining title to the truck to which the tires and tubes were subsequently attached. The only question with which we are dealing is the relative rights of the holders of the retention-of-title contracts to the property in question. The contract which retained the title to the truck upon which the tires sued for were subsequently placed provided that additions to the truck should become a part of the truck and be covered by the contract. The plaintiff in error contends that this provision and record notice of it to the defendant in error put the title to the tires sold by defendant in error to the owner of the truck in the holder of the contract covering the truck. We do not concur in this view, for two reasons. One is that a mortgage, bill of sale to secure debt, and a retention-of-title contract are to most intents and purposes the same (Merchants & Mechanics Bank v. Beard, 162 Ga. 446, 449, 134 S. E. 107), and under the Code, § 67-103, declaring that “A mortgage may embrace all property in possession,
So far as we know, this is the first time this question has been presented to an appellate court of this State for determination. It has been decided in a majority of States where the question has been passed on that in the circumstances set forth the title to the tires is in the seller of the tires; some of these decisions considering the case from the accession provision in the contract retaining title to the truck, and some from the "unity” or "integral part” point of view. While it may not be entirely logical to say that the tires and tubes become an integral part of the truck as between the owner and the holder of the contract retaining title to the truck, and that they do not become an integral part of it as to the seller of the replacement tires and tubes, we think that equity, good conscience, and other considerations of public policy will supply whatever logical deficiencies appear. Every one who buys a truck knows that the replacement of tires and tubes is inevitable from a stand
Judgment affirmed.