Swain v. Cato

Citations

• 34 Tex. 395

Syllabus

<p>1. The vendor’s lions being a secret and purely equitable lien, net required by law to be recorded, parties cannot be- allowed to evade the registration laws by falsely reciting in a promissory note that it was given for the pur ■ chase of land, and thereby apply this lien to purposes never contemplated in equityjnrisprnder.ee, and calculated to mislead third persons and operate as a fraud upon innocent pursbasers. Such fictitious liens are contrary to public policy; and as the parties fabricating them are in \\pari delicto, they will not be enforced even as between the parties themselves.</p> <p>2. When a note was given in part for land and in part for other considerations, the vendor’s lien may be enforced lor so much of it as was for land, provided the party claiming the lien can show precisely how much of the consideration was for land.</p>