Cardenas v. Miller

Citations

• 108 Cal. 250
• 41 P. 472
• 1895 Cal. LEXIS 852

Syllabus

<p>Decisions—Dictum—Controlling Effect of Statute.—The expression of opinion in the decision of a cause which is not necessary to a determination of the case is to be regarded as a mere dictum, and, when it announces, a doctrine which is inconsistent with the plain meaning and effect of a statute, it cannot affect a subsequent decision in accordance with the statute.</p> <p>Attachment—Unrecorded Chattel Mortgage—Notice to Creditors. A chattel mortgage which is not recorded as required by the statute is void as to attaching creditors of the mortgagor, regardless of their actual notice of the unrecorded chattel mortgage, and knowledge of its existence will nob protect the holder of the chattel mortgage against an attachment by a creditor of the mortgagor.</p> <p>Id.—Construction of Code—Notice of Unrecorded Instrument.-—Section 1217 of the Civil Code, which provides that an unrecorded instrument is valid as between the parties thereto and those who have notice thereof, relates only to instruments affecting the title to or possession of real property, and does not apply to chattel mortgages or qualify the ’ explicit terms of section 2957 of the Civil Code, making an unrecorded mortgage void as against creditors of the mortgagor, and against subsequent purchasers and encumbrancers of the property in good faith and for value.</p> <p>Id.—Rights of Creditors Distinguished from Those of Purchasers and Encumbrancers—Good Faith.—Section 2957 of the Civil Code makes a plain distinction between the rights of creditors and those of subsequent purchasers and mortgagees, an unrecorded mortgage being void as to creditors without regard to good faith or actual notice of the mortgage, which is wholly immaterial as to them, while subsequent purchasers and mortgagees are protected against a prior unrecorded mortgage only when they take their conveyances in good faith and for value, without ' actual notice of the prior mortgage.</p>