same shall belong to the vendor until such sums shall have been paid, such condition in regard to the title so remaining until such payment is void as to all subsequent purchasers in good faith and creditors, unless such condition shall be evidenced in writing, executed, acknowledged, and recorded as in the case of chattel mortgages. Before the vendor or lesser of such personal property can take possession of the property, unless the transaction be evidenced by writing, acknowleged, and recorded as aforesaid, he is required to tender or refund to the purchaser or any party receiving the same, any sum of money paid after deducting therefrom a reasonable compensation for the use of such property, which shall in no case exceed 25 per cent. of the amount so paid, anything in the contract to the contrary notwithstanding, and whether such condition be expressed in such contract or not, unless the property have been broken or actually damaged, and then a reasonable compensation for such breakage or damage shall be allowed. Unless personal property on a sale be actually delivered in a reasonable time and be followed by an actual and continued change of possession of the things sold, such sale is fraudulent and void as against the creditors of the vendor or subsequent purchasers in good faith; and no sale of goods and chattels where possession is delivered to the vendee shall be subject to any condition whatever as against creditors of the vendee, or subsequent purchasers from such vendee in good faith, unless such condition be evidenced in writing, executed, and acknowledged by the vendee, and recorded as in the case of a chattel mortgage.

Montana.-All contracts, notes, and other instruments, whereby personal property is transferred, and whereby it is provided that the title shall remain in the vendor until the property is paid for, must, or a certified copy thereof, be filed in the office of the county clerk and recorder where the property is situated.

Nebraska.-Conditional sales are valid as between the parties and against judgment or attaching creditors and subsequent purchasers and mortgagees, with notice, either actual or constructive; otherwise, invalid. Constructive notice is obtained by filing with the county clerk of the county where the vendee resides a copy of the contract of sale, which copy must have attached thereto an affidavit of the vendor, his agent or attorney, setting forth the names of the vendor and vendee, a description of the property transferred, and the full and true interest of the vendor therein. Constructive notice ceases at the end of 5 years from the date of sale, unless within 30 days prior thereto a copy of the contract, verified as before, shall be again filed. The vendor may preserve the validity of the notice thereafter by an annual refiling.

Nevada.-There are no special statutes regarding such sales.

New Hampshire.-No lien reserved in personal property sold conditionally and passing into the hands of the conditional purchaser, except a lien upon household goods, created by a lease thereof, containing an option in favor of the lessee to purchase the same at a specified time, shall be valid against attaching creditors, or subsequent purchasers, without notice, unless the vendor of such property make a written memorandum, signed by the purchaser, witnessing the lien, the sum due thereon, and containing the following affidavit: "We severally swear that the foregoing memorandum is made for the purpose of witnessing the lien and the sum due thereon as specified in said memorandum and for no other purpose whatsoever, and that said lien and the sum due thereon were not created for the purpose of enabling the purchaser to execute said memorandum, but said lien is a just lien and the sum stated to be due thereon is honestly due thereon and owing from the purchaser to the vendor." The lien must be recorded: (1) Where purchaser resides, if in this state; (2) where vendor resides, if within this state and if purchaser do not reside in state; (3) where property is situated, if neither purchaser nor vendor reside in this state.

New Jersey.-Instruments attesting the conditional sale of chattels must be recorded to be valid as against subsequent purchasers and mortgagees. Where instalment leases are given on household goods, the husband and wife must join in the contracts.

New Mexico.-Goods and chattels may be sold, reserving by written contract the title in the vendor until the same has been fully paid for, and it is not necessary that such contract shall be filed or recorded in any public office.

New York.-Conditional sales accompanied by delivery are void as against creditors and bona-fide purchasers unless the contract for sale, or a copy, be filed; such filing must be in the town or city where the vendee lives, or if not a resident of the state, then in the town or city where the property is; in the counties of New York and Kings, the filing must be in the register's office; in other cities and towns where there is a county clerk's office, in that office, and in all other cities and towns in the office of the town clerk, unless there be a county clerk's office in the city or town. If the sale be of a railroad equipment, the contract must be duly acknowledged and recorded in the book of realestate mortgages in the office of the county clerk or register of the county where the principal office or place of busines of the vendee, lessee, or bailee is located, and each locomotive or car, so leased or loaned, must have the name of the vendor, lessor, bailor, or assignee of the vendor, plainly marked upon both its sides, followed by the words owner, lessor, bailor, or assignee, as the case may be. These provisions do not apply to conditional sales of household goods, law

books, law blanks, law-office supplies, pianos, organs, safes, scales, butchers' and meat-market tools and fixtures, wood-cutting machinery, engines, dynamos boilers, portable furnaces, boilers for heating purposes, threshing machines, horsepowers, mowing machines, reapers, harvesters, grain drills and their attachments, dairy sizes of centrifugal cream separators, coaches, hearses, carriages, buggies, phaetons and other vehicles, bicycles, tricycles and other devices for locomotion by human power; provided the contract be executed in duplicate and one duplicate be delivered to the purchaser. In case any articles sold conditionally but delivered be retaken by the vendor, they shall be held by him for 30 days, during which time the vendee may perform the condition; and on 15 days', written notice personally served upon the vendee, if within the county where the sale is to be held, and if not, then mailed to him at his last known place of residence, and stating the terms of the contract, the amount unpaid, the expenses of storage and the time and place of the sale, unless such amounts are sooner paid, the vendor may sell by public auction, rendering the surplus to the vendee.

North Carolina.-Contracts for conditional sales must be recorded in the county in which the purchaser resides; or if he reside out of the state, in the county in which the property or some part thereof is situated.

North Dakota.-Contracts for the conditional sale of chattels must be recorded to be valid as to third parties without notice.

Ohio.-Conditional sales of personal property are permitted, but are void as to all subsequent purchasers, mortgagee in good faith, and creditors, unless the condition be evidenced by writing signed by the purchaser, and also by a statement thereon, under oath, made by the vendor, his agent, or attorney, of the amount of the claim, or a true copy thereof, with an affidavit that the same is a true copy, deposited with the township clerk or county recorder in the same manner as chattel mortgages. The vendor of personal property, except machinery equipment and supplies for railroads and contractors, and for manufacturing brick, cement, and tiling, and for quarrying and mining purposes, cannot afterwards repossess himself of such property without tendering or refunding to the purchaser the money already paid after deducting therefrom a reasonable compensation for the use of such property, which in no case shall exceed 50 per cent. of the amount paid, unless the property have been broken, or actually damaged, and then a reasonable compensation for such damage shall be allowed. Any person violating this last provision subjects himself to a fine not exceeding $100. A bailee, or conditional vendee, who sells or otherwise disposes of the property entrusted to him, or removes the same from the county, with intent to defraud, is guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to a fine and imprisonment.

Pennsylvania.—A distinction is made between the bailment of a chattel with power in the bailee to become the owner upon the payment of the price agreed upon, and the sale of a chattel with the stipulation that the title shall not pass to the purchaser until the contract price shall be paid. The former is valid, and the right of the bailor to resume possession on non-payment is secure against creditors of the bailee, and bona-fide purchasers from him. The latter is held invalid as against creditors of the vendee and bona-fide purchasers from him. A lease of personal property may be made for a stipulated rent, accompanied with an agreement to make title when a given sum is paid. The title of the lessor will not be divested by a sale under an execution against the lessee. Property so leased is liable to distress for rent.

South Carolina.-Conditional sales of personal property must be recorded in the same manner as chattel mortgages, in order to affect the rights of third parties who have no actual notice.

South Dakota.-All sales of personal property where the possession is delivered to the vendee on condition that the title shall remain in the vendor until the purchase money is paid, shall vest such title in the vendee as to third persons, without notice of such conditions, unless such contract be in writing and filed with the register of deeds of the county where the vendee Jesides.

Tennessee.-Personal property may be sold and title retained by the vendor until he is fully paid, the, purchaser in the meantime being in possession of the property. The contract must be in writing and need not be registered.

Texas.-All reservations of the title to, or property in, chattels as security for the purchase money thereof shall be held to be chattel mortgages and shall, when possession is delivered to the vendee, be void as to creditors and bona-fide purchasers, unless such reservation be in writing and registered as required of chattel mortgages. Instalment leases of personal property, accompanied with an agreement to make title when a given sum is paid, are permitted, but such instruments must be filed in the county clerk's office in order to protect the lessor from complications with third parties.

Utah.-There is no statute on the subject of conditional sales. The supreme court has held that a conditional sale is good and valid as well against third persons as against parties to the transaction, and that such bailee of personal property or conditional purchaser cannot convey the title or subject it to execution for his own debts until the condition on which the agreement to sell was made has been performed.

Vermont.-The lien of a vendor of personal property by conditional sale is not good against bona-fide purchasers or attaching

creditors, unless a written statement of such lien be recorded in the town clerk's office within 30 days from the time of delivery. If the purchaser be a non-resident of the state, the record must be made in the town where the vendor resides.

Virginia.—In every sale or contract for the sale of goods and chattels, where the title is reserved until payment is made, or the transfer is dependent on any condition, and possession is delivered to the vendee, in respect to such reservation or condition, the sale is void as to creditors and purchasers for value and without notice, unless such sale or contract be in writing expressing the reservation or condition, and signed by both vendor and vendee, and until a memorandum of said writing setting forth the date, the amount due, and a brief description of the goods be docketed in the office in which deeds are recorded. A docket of such contracts indexed in the name of the vendor and vendee is kept. If the goods or chattels consist of locomotives, cars, other rolling stock, equipments, or personal property used in or about the operation of a railroad, the writing must be duly admitted to record, and a copy filed in the board of public works, and each locomotive, car, or other piece of rolling stock, be marked on both sides with the name of the vendor followed by the word owner. No acknowledgment is needed except in case of railroads.

Washington.-All conditional sales or leases of personal property, containing a conditional right to purchase, where the property is placed in the possession of the vendee, shall be absolute as to all creditors or purchasers of the vendee in good faith, unless within 10 days of the taking of possession by the vendee a memorandum of such sale stating its terms and conditions, and signed by the vendor and vendee shall be filed in the auditor's office of the county wherein at the date of the vendee's taking possession the vendee resides. It is made the duty of the auditor to record the memorandum in a book styled "Conditional Sales," and to index the same in the general index of instruments in his office with reference to the volume and page in which it is recorded.

West Virginia.-Where a sale is made of goods and chattels, possession delivered, and the title reserved until the purchase money is paid, such reservation is void as to creditors of, and purchasers without notice from, the buyer, unless a notice of such reservation be recorded in the office of the clerk of the county court of the county in which the goods are, or in case the chattels consist of engine, cars, rolling stock, or equipments to be used in the operation of a railroad, unless the notice be recorded in the office of the secretary of state.

Wisconsin.-Instalment leases, and contracts for the conditional sale of personal property, reserving title in the lessor or vendor, but delivering possession to the lessee or vendee, are invalid as against