§ 2850. Whenever property of a surety is hypothecated with property of the principal, the surety is entitled to have the property of the principal first applied to the discharge of the obligation. ARTICLE IV. RIGHTS OF CREDITORS. SECTION 2854. Creditor entitled to benefit of securities held by surety. § 2854. A creditor is entitled to the benefit of everything which a surety has received from the debtor by way of security for the performance of the obligation, and may, upon the maturity of the obligation, compel the application of such security to its satisfaction. ARTICLE V. LETTER OF CREDIT. SECTION 2858. Letter of credit, what. 2859. How addressed. 2860. Liability of the writer. 2861. Letters of credit, either general or special. 2862. Nature of general letter of credit. 2863. Extent of general letter of credit. 2864. A letter of credit may be a continuing guaranty. 2865. When notice to the writer necessary. 2866. The credit given must agree with the terms of the letter. § 2858. A letter of credit is a written instrument, addressed by one person to another, requesting the latter to give credit to the person in whose favor it is drawn. § 2859. A letter of credit may be addressed to several persons in succession. § 2860. The writer of a letter of credit is, upon the default of the debtor, liable to those who gave credit in compliauce with its terms. § 2861. A letter of credit is either general or special. When the request for credit in a letter is addressed to speci fied persons by name or description, the letter is special. All other letters of credit are general. § 2862. A general letter of credit gives any person to whom it may be shown authority to comply with its request, and by his so doing it becomes, as to him, of the same effect as if addressed to him by name. § 2863. Several persons may successively give credit upon a general letter. § 2864. If the parties to a letter of credit appear, by its terms, to contemplate a course of future dealing between the parties, it is not exhausted by giving a credit, even to the amount limited by the letter, which is subsequently reduced or satisfied by payments made by the debtor, but is to be deemed a continuing guaranty. § 2865. The writer of a letter of credit is liable for credit given upon it without notice to him, unless its terms express or imply the necessity of giving notice. § 2866. If a letter of credit prescribes the persons by whom, or the mode in which, the credit is to be given, or the term of credit, or limits the amount thereof, the writer is not bound except for transactions which, in these respects, conform strictly to the terms of the letter. TITLE XIV. LIEN. CHAPTER I. LIENS IN GENERAL, §§ 2872-2913. III. PLEDGE, §§ 2986-3011. CHAPTER I. LIENS IN GENERAL. ARTICLE I. DEFINITION OF LIENS, §§ 2872-2977. ARTICLE I. DEFINITION OF LIENS. SECTION 2872. Lien, what. 2873. Liens, general or special. 2875. Special lien, what. 2876. Prior liens. 2877. Contracts subject to provisions of this chapter § 2872. A lien is a charge imposed in some mode other than by a transfer in trust upon specific property, by which it is made security for the performance of an act. [In effect April 16, 1878.] But see Code Civ. Proc. § 1180. § 2873. Liens are either general or special. § 2874. A general lien is one which the holder thereof is entitled to enforce as a security for the performance of all the obligations, or all of a particular class of obligations, which exist in his favor against the owner of the property. § 2875. A special lien is one which the holder thereof can aforce only as security for the performance of a particular act or obligation, and of such obligations as may be incidental hereto. § 2876. Where the holder of a special lien is compelled to satisfy a prior lien for his own protection, he may enforce payment of the amount so paid by him, as a part of the claim for which his own lien exists. 2877. Contracts of mortgage, pledge, bottomry, or re spondentia, are subject to all the provisions of this chapter. ARTICLE XI. CREATION OF LIENS. SECTION 2881. Lien, how created. 2882. No lien for claim not due. 2883. Lien on future interest. 2884. Lien may be created by contract. § 2881. A lien is created: 1. By contract of the parties, or, 2. By operation of law. § 2882. No lien arises by mere operation of law until the time at which the act to be secured thereby ought to be performed. § 2883. An agreement may be made to create a lien upon property not yet acquired by the party agreeing to give the lien, or not yet in existence. In such case the lien agreed for attaches from the time when the party agreeing to give it acquires an interest in the thing, to the extent of such interest. § 2884. A lien may be created by contract, to take immediate effect, as security for the performance of obligations not then in existence. ARTICLE III. EFFECT OF LIENS. SECTION 2888. Lien, or contract for lien, transfers no title. 2890. Creation of lien does not imply personal obligation. 2892. Holder of lien not entitled to compensation. § 2888. Notwithstanding an agreement to the contrary, a lien, or a contract for a lien, transfers no title to the property subject to the lien. § 2889. All contracts for the forfeiture of property subject to a lien, in satisfaction of the obligation secured thereby, and all contracts in restraint of the right of redemption from alien, are void, § 2890. The creation of a lien does not of itself imply that any person is bound to perform the act for which the lien is a security. § 2891. The existence of a lien upon property does not of itself entitle the person in whose favor it exists to a lien upon the same property for the performance of any other obligation than that which the lien originally secured. § 2892. One who holds property by virtue of a lien thereon, is not entitled to compensation from the owner thereof for any trouble or expense which he incurs respecting it, except to the same extent as a borrower, under sections 1892 and 1893. ARTICLE IV. PRIORITY OF LIENS. SECTION 2897. Priority of liens. 2898. Priority of mortgage for price. § 2897. Other things being equal, different liens upon the same property have priority according to the time of their creation, except in cases of bottomry and respondentia. § 2898. A mortgage given for the price of real property, at the time of its conveyance, has priority over all other liens created against the purchaser, subject to the operation of the recording laws. § 2899. Where one has a lien upon several things, and other persons have subordinate liens upon, or interests in, some but not all of the same things, the person having the prior lien, if he can do so without risk of loss to himself, or of injustice to other persons, must resort to the property in the following order on the demand of any party interested : 1. To the things upon which he has an exclusive lien; 2. To the things which are subject to the fewest subordinate liens ; 3. In like manner inversely to the number of subordinate liens upon the same thing; and, 4. When several things are within one of the foregoing classes, and subject to the same number of liens, resort must De had, |