treasuries in the same manner as state taxes, and any excess collected over the amount of such principal and interest payable in any given year shall be credited to the general funds of the respective counties, school districts, cities, villages, or townships.-G. L. 1897, Chap. 83, § 12.

CHAPTER XIX.-CONTRACTS AND LIENS.

I. SEED GRAIN CONTRACTS.

§ 867. Agreement—Lien.—To secure a loan or purchase of seed grain, the person receiving the same shall execute to the vendor or lender a note or contract containing a statement of the amount and kind of seed, and the terms of the agreement relative thereto. Upon filing the same or a copy thereof, as hereinafter provided, said vendor or lender shall have a lien on the crop grown therefrom.-R. L. 1905, § 3479.

§ 868. Filing-Duration of lien.-To preserve said lien, 'the person furnishing seed as aforesaid, within thirty days after the execution of such note or contract, shall file the same, or a copy thereof, with the clerk of the town or municipality in which the land upon which the crop is to be grown is situated. Thereupon the lien shall continue for the term of one year from the date of filing, upon the crop growing or grown from such seed, to the amount and according to the terms of the agreement, against the owner and all creditors and purchasers. It shall not be affected by any exemption law, and shall take precedence of all other liens and be notice of its existence to all persons.-R. L. 1905, § 3480.

§ 869. Lienor may take possession. The owner of such note or agreement and lien, at any time after condition broken, may take possession of the crop so grown, or so much thereof as he may be entitled to under the terms of his agreement, including the necessary expense of taking and sale, and such taking shall discharge the lien as to the remainder of the crop.-R. L. 1905, § 3481.

§ 870. Chattel mortgage provision, how applicable. All provisions of this chapter relating to chattel mortgages, not inconsistent with those relating to conditional sales and seed grain contracts, shall be applicable thereto, but neither shall require witnessing or acknowledgment.-R. L. 1905, § 3482.

II. LIEN FOR SERVICES OF STALLIONS.

§ 871. For service of stallions, etc.-The owner of any stallion, jack, bull, ram, or boar kept for public service shall have a lien upon the offspring of such animal for the price or value of its service.-R. L. 1905, § 3544.

Note to § § 867, 868, 869. A note or contract given for sowing seed must be given at the time seed is furnished in order to be valid. It must be filed in the office of the clerk of the town where the land upon which the seed is sown is situated within 30 days from the date of its execution and delivery, and when so executed, delivered and filed it constitutes a first lien on the crop. The lien becomes extinct after one year from date of filing.

These notes and contracts should be foreclosed as mortgages. They do not require to be witnessed or acknowledged.

General note as to filing papers. Where two writs, or chattel liens of any kind, are sought to be filed in haste, and one delivers his to the clerk while away from his office, and the other at the same time deposits his at the clerk's office, with a person in charge of such office, the latter will acquire first lien. It is a mistake to suppose that the making or indorsing on the paper the time of filing it is the substantial thing or the act of filing. The filing, as far as the creditor is concerned, is complete upon presenting the paper at the office and leaving it there and depositing it in the proper place with the papers in the office. After that it is the clerk's duty to note thereon the time of filing, but this is merely a memorandum of the time of the filing and not the filing itself.

$ 872.

How preserved and enforced. To preserve said lien the holder thereof, within six months after such service, shall file for record, with the clerk of the town wherein the female bred to such animal may be, a verified statement containing a description of said female, and stating the time and place of the service and the amount due therefor. A certified copy of such statement shall be sufficient to authorize the lienholder to take possession of said offspring at any time within one year after its birth, and to foreclose his lien thereon by advertisement and sale, as in the case of a chattel mortgage.-R. L. 1905, § 3545.

III. LIENS UPON HORSES FOR SHOEING.

§ 873. Lien for shoeing.-Every person who shall shoe or cause to be shod by his employes any horse, mule, ox or other animals, shall have a lien upon the animal shod for his reasonable charge for the shoeing of the same, and each lien conferred by this act shall take precedence of all other claims or liens thereon, not duly recorded prior to the recording of the claim of lien, as hereinafter provided, but such lien shall not attach where the property has changed ownership prior to the filing of such lien.-G. L. 1907, Chap. 47, § 1. § 874. How filed. Any person desiring to secure the benefit of this act, shall within six (6) months after the shoeing of such horse, mule, ox or other animal, or in case he shall have shod such animal more than once within that time, then within six (6) months of the last shoeing, file with the township clerk, city clerk, or village recorder as the case may be, in the township, village or city in which such animal is, a statement made under oath, by the claimant, or some one in his or her behalf, and a notice of his intention to claim a lien upon such animal for his charges for the shoeing of the same.-G. L. 1907, Chap. 47, § 2.

§ 875. Form of notice.-Such statement and notice shall state the name of the person claiming the lien, the name of the owner or reputed owner of the animal sought to be charged with the lien, and a description sufficient for identification of the animal upon which the lien is claimed, and the amount due the claimant, as near as may be over and above all legal off-sets.-G. 'L. 1907, Chap. 47, § 3.

§ 876. Successive liens may be filed. Any person may file successive liens upon the same animal for charges for shoeing the same, and he may include in any one claim of lien his charges for any number of times of shoeing such animal; provided, however, that no lien shall be had for any shoeing of any animal done more than six (6) months prior to the filing of the notice of lien.-G. L. 1907, Chap. 47, § 4.

§ 877. Duty of clerks and recorders. It shall be the duty of the township, city clerk or village recorder, as the case may be, upon the presentation to him of any such statement and notice of lien, to file the same in his office in the same manner as provided by law for the filing and recording of chattel mortgages; and he shall be entitled to charge and receive from the person filing such statement and notice of fee of twenty-five (25) cents, and no more.G. L. 1907, Chap. 47, § 5. § 878. Lien to be received in evidence.-A copy of such statement and notice of lien, filed as aforesaid, certified by the township or city clerk, or recorder as the case may be, shall be received in evidence in any proceeding taken to enforce the lien herein pro

vided for, but only of the fact that such statement and notice of lien was received and filed, according to the indorsements of the township, city clerk or village recorder thereon and of no other fact.-G. L. 1907, Chap. 47, § 6.

§ 879. Proceedings-How commenced. The person having such lien shall within six months from and after the date of filing such lien statement, commence suit for the recovery of such charges by summons, in the usual form, before any justice of the peace of the township in which he resides, or in any court, as the case may require, against the person liable for the payment thereof. But before any such lien claimant shall commence any action to foreclose such lien, he shall give the person against whom he proposes to bring such action at least twenty (20) days' notice in writing of his intention to foreclose such lien.-G. L. 1907, Chap. 47, § 7.

§ 880. Service of summons.-If such summons be returned personally served upon the defendant, the same proceedings shall thereon be had in all respects as in other suits commenced by summons, in which there is a personal service of process; the judgment shall be rendered in such suit in like manner as judgments are now rendered in civil actions.-G. L. 1907, Chap. 47, § 8. § 881. In case the defendant cannot be found.-If the officer return upon such summons that the defendant cannot be found in this county, the same proceedings shall be had in all respects, as near as may be, as in suits commenced by attachment in which there is not a personal service of the attachment upon the defendant; and judgment shall be rendered in such suits in like manner as judgments are now rendered in such actions.-G. L. 1907, Chap. 47, § 9. § 882. Execution to be issued. If the plaintiff recover judgment in such suit, execution shall be issued thereon in the same manner and with like effect as upon judgments now rendered in suits commenced by attachment, and the horse, mule, ox, or other animal, upon which the plaintiff holds such lien, shall not be exempt from execution, but may be sold to satisfy such execution in the same manner as if it had been seized and held upon an attachment in such suit.-G. L. 1907, Chap. 47, § 10.

§ 883. Expense to be included in judgment.-All expenses which shall have been incurred by the person having such lien after the same had accrued shall be an additional lien upon the property, and shall be computed and ascertained upon the trial or assessment of damages and included in the judgment.-G. L. 1907, Chap. 47, § 11.

884. Lien upon animal shod. In all suits or attachments prosecuted under the provisions of this act, the court, jury or justice of the peace who shall try the same, or make an assessment of damages therein, shall, in addition to finding the sum due the plaintiff, also find that the same is due for the cost of shoeing the horse, mule, ox, or other animal described in plaintiff's declaration, and is a lien upon the same; provided, however, that if the court, jury, or justice of the peace shall find that the amount due the plaintiff is not a lien upon the property described in the plaintiff's declaration, the plaintiff shall be non-suited thereby, but shall be entitled to judgment, as in other civil actions, but in such case said plaintiff shall not recover or tax any costs other than those allowed and taxable in such case; and in those cases where the amount due is found to be a lien upon the property mentioned in plaintiff's declaration, the finding or verdict may be in the follow

ing form: (The court, jurors or justice, as the case may be) say that there is due the sum of..... ...dollars from the said defendant, and that the same is due for plaintiff's reasonable charges for shoeing the animal mentioned in plaintiff's declaration (giving a description sufficient for identification of the animal), and that the plaintiff has a lien upon said animal for said amount. -G. L. 1907, Chap. 47, § 12.