Peoples Bank v. Arbuckle

Citations

• 82 Fla. 479
• 90 So. 458

Syllabus

<p>1. The intent- of a statute is the law, and that intent- should be duly ascertained and effectuated.</p> <p>2. A statutory lien has no greater effect than is conferred by the valid intendments of the statute, as shown by its terms and its purpose.</p> <p>3. As under the Florida law the statutory liens of materialmen are “acquired * * * by the furnishing of the materials,” and as the liens as enacted have no relation to the commencement of the “construction or repair” of structures, and as the express provision is that the priority of such liens is over all other “accruing thereafter,” such statutory liens cannot have priority over any liens that accrue before “the performance of the labor or the furnishing of the material.” As to those who had actually acquired liens by having furnished materials before another lien, such as a mortgage is acquired,. their liens continue to be “prior in dignity” and to. cover materials furnished under a continuing contract or agreement after the mortgage lien is acquired.</p> <p>4. Where a lien on property is acquired by the due execution and record of a mortgage “while the construction or repair of buildings, etc., on the property * * * is in progress,” such mortgage lienor takes with notice that labor is being performed and materials furnished, for which liens may have been acquired, and such mortgagee must ascertain at his peril what liens have been acquired prior to the recording of the mortgage by persons who have begun to furnish labor or material for construction or repairs on the property.</p> <p>5. A mortgage lien is not subordinate to statutory liens that are acquired by those who begin to perform labor or to furnish materials after the due recording of the mortgage, because the record of the mortgage makes it effective as to third persons, and the statute only makes the liens it gives “prior in dignity to all others accruing thereafter,” and provides that “the lien hereinbefore provided for shall be acquired * * * by th