whom there are at least two in each town, are appointed by the board of supervisors and judges of the county courts. Judges of the several courts in the state, also, are authorized to take such acknowledgments. If a married woman signs a deed, the acknowledgment must be made to the commissioner apart from her husband, that she executed the same freely, and without compulsion from her husband. If any married woman refuses to execute a conveyance, she retains her estate in dower against any person claiming the conveyed premises.

CHAPTER V.

Personal Property.-Contract of Sale.

§ 640. PERSONAL property is divided into chattels real and personal. Chattels real concern the realty, as a lease for years of land; and the duration of the time is immaterial. It is only personal estate, if it be for a thousand years. There are, also, many chattels which, though of a movable nature, yet, being attached to the freehold, and contributing to its value and enjoyment, go with it; as the shelves and fixtures in a house, and the posts and rails of an enclosure. But many things are now treated as personal property which seem, in a degree, to be attached to the freehold.

§ 641. It has been established as a general rule, that things which a tenant has fixed to the freehold, for the purposes of trade or manufactures, may be removed, when the removal does not cause any material injury to the estate. Thus fats, coppers, tubs, and partitions belonging to a soap boiler, have been removed. Chimney pieces, and even wainscot, put up by a tenant, or a cider mill and press erected by him, may be removed, if it can be done without

§ 640. What is personal property? What are chattels real? § 641. What chattels attached to a freehold may be removed? and what

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material injury to the freehold. On the other hand, iron stoves, fixed to the brick work of the chimneys of a house, have been adjudged to pass with the house as a part of the freehold. The right of removal depends upon the mode of annexation of the article, and the effect which its removal would have upon the premises.

§ 642. A title to personal property may be acquired in various ways. A person has a right to all that his property produces. Such are the fruits of the earth, the increase of animals, and the increase of stock invested in trade or manufactures. Property is also acquired by one's own act or power; as his literary property, consisting of maps, writings, and books, mechanical inventions, produced by his intellectual and manual labor. Goods and chattels are obtained also by transfer by act of law; as by judgment on a recovery by law in an action of trespass or trover; and by gift, which, in some cases, gives a valid title.

§ 643. To give validity to a gift, there must be a delivery, at least so far as the subject is capable of delivery: if the thing cannot be delivered, there must be an act equivalent to it. The donor must part with both the possession and dominion of the property. If the thing given be a chose in action, that is, a debt due by bond, note, or otherwise, the law requires an assignment, and the transfer must be actually executed. And gifts of goods and chattels, as well as of lands, with intent to delay and defraud creditors, are void, as against the person to whom the fraud would be prejudicial. All deeds of gift, and all transfers or assignments of goods or things in action, made in trust for the use of the person making the same, are void, as against creditors, existing or subsequent.

No

§ 644. It is a principle in law, that no man can be deprived of his property without his consent; and that the honest purchaser is not safe under a defective title. man can transfer to others the right to property which he does not himself possess. The title to property acquired by theft or violence, does not pass from the true owner;

may not? § 642. In what ways may title to personal property be acquired? § 643. In what cases are gifts valid? In what cases are they void? § 644. Can a man be deprived of his property without

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and he has a just claim to the property against any person purchasing the same.

§ 645. Whether the possessor of land, who has taken possession in good faith, but who subsequently finds that his title was not obtained from the rightful owner, can recover the value of beneficial improvements which he may have made upon the land, is a question that has been much discussed. It is said to be the English law, and the common law of this country, that the owner can receive his land by ejectment, without paying for the improvements made upon The improvements are considered as annexed to the freehold; and every possessor makes such improvements at his peril.

it.

§ 646. Conflicting opinions have been expressed on this point in the courts of England and of this country; and statute provisions exist in some of the states, allowing, in certain cases, to the occupant, compensation for the im provements. But these are pronounced, by the author of "Commentaries on American Law," encroachments upon the rights of property, as known and recognized by the common law of the land. And he farther observes: "There are but very few cases in which a person may not, with reasonable diligence and cautious inquiry, discover whether a title be clear or clouded, and let the buyer beware' is a maxim of the common law, which is exceedingly conducive to the security of right and title."

§ 647. But private property must, in some cases, be made subservient to the public welfare. If a public highway be out of repair, a passenger may lawfully go through an adjoining private enclosure. It is lawful also, to demolish houses to prevent the spreading of a conflagration. The legislature has the control of private property for public uses. The Revised Statutes of New York authorize the cutting of roads through cultivated lands of individuals with. out their consent; provided it be done by town officers of their own appointment, upon previous application of twelve

his consent? § 645, 646. Can a person obtain compensation for improvements which he has made on land which he has occupied under a defective title? § 647. May private property ever be taken or used for the public welfare? May it be taken without compensation?

freeholders; and the value of the lands, and amount of damages, must be assessed by a jury, and paid to the owner. It is an equitable provision in our constitutions, that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation.

§ 648. A contract is an agreement between two or more persons, by which the parties agree to do, or not to do, a particular thing. Contracts are executory when the stipulations remain to be executed; or when one party agrees to sell and deliver, at a future time, for a stipulated price, and the other agrees to accept and pay. Contracts are express or implied. They are express, when parties contract in express words, or by writing; and implied, when an act has been done which shows that the parties must have intended to contract; as when a person employs another to do some service, it is presumed that the party employing intended to pay for the labor performed.

§ 649. To render a contract binding, there must be a legal consideration; something must have been payed, or something given or done, as an inducement to the fulfilment of the contract. A contract, to be valid, requires, (1.) that the thing sold has actually existence, and is capable of delivery; (2.) that a price be fixed, or susceptible of being ascertained, without farther negotiation between the parties; and, (3.) that there be a mutual consent of the parties to the contract, which is binding when a proposition made by one of the parties is accepted by the other.

§ 650. In the sale of a chattel as one's own property, if it be at the time in the possession of another, and there be no covenant or warranty of title, the party buys at his peril. But if the seller has possession of the article, and he sells it as his own property, he is understood to warrant the title. A fair price implies a warranty of title.

§ 651. With regard to the quality of the thing sold, the seller is not bound to make good any deficiency, unless he

§ 648. What is a contract? What is an executory contract? When are they express, and when implied? § 649. What is requisite to the validity of a contract? § 650. What is the law concerning the warranty of title? § 651. What concerning the quality of the property sold? What is the law of moral obligation in this case?

expressly warranted the goods to be sound and good, or unless he made a fraudulent representation concerning them. But moral obligation rests on every person knowingly to conceal no fault in an article he sells. And if there be an intentional concealment or suppression by one party of a material fact, in a case wherein the other has not equal access to means of information, the contract is void. But when both have equal means of information, and neither says nor does anything to impose on the other, a disclosure of facts is not necessary to make the contract valid.

§ 652. When the terms of sale are agreed on, and the bargain is struck, the contract is absolute without the actual delivery; and the property, and risk of accident to the goods, vest in the buyer. He is entitled to the goods on payment or tender of the price, and not otherwise, when nothing is said at sale as to the time of delivery or the time of pay. ment; for, though the vendee acquires the right of property by contract of sale, he does not acquire the right of pos session, until he pays or tenders the price. But if the goods are sold upon credit, and nothing is said as to the time of delivering the goods, the vendee is immediately entitled to the possession. To make a contract of sale valid, there must be a delivery, or a tender of it, or payment, or tender of payment, an earnest given, or a memorandum in writing signed by the party to be charged; and if nothing of this kind takes place, it is no contract, and the owner may dis. pose of his goods as he pleases.

§ 653. The statutes of New York contain express provisions on the subject of contracts. No agreement that is not to be performed within one year from the time of making it; no special promise to answer for the debt, default, or miscarriage of another person; nor an agreement or promise upon consideration of marriage, except mutual promises to marry, shall be valid, unless such agreement, note, or memorandum thereof, expressing the consideration, be in writing, subscribed by the party to be charged. Con

§ 652. When does the buyer's right of property commence? When the right of possession? What is necessary to render a contract of sale valid? § 653. What contracts, in the state of New York, are required to be in writing?