Porter v. Dement

Citations

• 35 Ill. 478

Syllabus

<p>1. Chattel mortgages — of recording a copy. A party to whom a chattel mortgage had been given, having lost the original without its having been recorded, caused a copy thereof to be made, and procured the justice before whom the original had been acknowledged, to certify that it was a correct copy of the one acknowledged before him, and this copy, so certified, was recorded in the recorder’s office. Eeld, that the recording of the copy could not avail the mortgagee, to protect him against a levy of an execution against the mortgagor, subsequently made, while the property remained in the hands of the latter.</p> <p>2. The original mortgage is required to be recorded in the recorder’s office. The law has made no provision for authenticating to the.recorder a copy of such a mortgage, nor has he any authority to transcribe a supposed copy of such an instrument upon his records.</p> <p>3. Same—necessity for recording—effect of actual notice of the mortgage. Nor will actual notice of the mortgage, in the event of its not having been properly recorded, avail to protect the mortgagee. As between the parties, a chattel mortgage is valid without acknowledging or recording; but it has no effect upon the rights of third parties acting in good faith; and there is no want of good faith on the part of a creditor in levying upon his debtor’s property included in a chattel mortgage which the law declares void as to him.</p> <p>4. Same — rule of construction of the statute. The statute in regard to chattel mortgages is in derogation of the common law, and should be strictly construed.</p>