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Show By Richard J. Maughan, BS, LLB Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch; Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth; Between two blades, which bears the better temper; Between two horses, which doth bear him best; Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye; I have perhaps, some shallow spirit of judgment, But in these nice, sharp quillets of the law, Good faith, I am no wise than a draw. King Henry VI Shakespjeape Within the Seamless Wpb of the Law there exists so many of these "nice sharp quillets" that it behooves the man who enters Unto a contract to be more than casually casu-ally attentive to the details. In this column last week, it was suggested that the easiest .'4 , ii - ;,4.v hi of money (proof of that statement state-ment Is to be found In the ubiquitous ubi-quitous small loan company). Some people go to these small loan companies to get the cash they think they need. The loan company sometimes gives them the money, but sometimes requires re-quires that they put up some security of which the loan company com-pany can take possession of the person who borrows the money does not repay it This security v may be In the form of the household furniture, the family car, the baby's crib, the rugs on the floor, the kitchen sink and stove, the refrigerator, madam's furs, the diamond rings, the TV, the radio, and the III Fi set, the silver-plated silver service, the master's guns and golf sticks, his boats and shoats It could be one or all of these. Once the extent of the secur- lty Is decided on the Items pledged for repayment of the loan are listed on a printed document called a chattel mortgage. This document usually provides pro-vides that payments required are made, and made on time. It also usually provides that if the provisions of the document are not followed strictly to the letter, let-ter, then the mortgage may be foreclosed, and so much of the pledged security sold as is necessary to pay the debt In many cases the sale of the entire en-tire kit and caboodle won't make the balance, and the poor borrower ends up without his security together with a deficiency defi-ciency judgment against him for the amount yet owing. It is not unusual for people to get into such a haste to possess pos-sess themselves of the cash that they fail to understand all the implications of the instrument instru-ment which they are required to sign before the cash is forthcoming. forth-coming. The desire which promotes the haste without understanding understand-ing usually results in an unpleasant un-pleasant meeting with those "nice sharp quillets of the law." ' TrFH ..See you next week. and least ex- Mr Blaughan pensive way to guard against these quillets is to hire a law- x yer among other things he will take time to read the fine print. The Chattel Mortgage Much of the credit business done today, is done by means of the chattel mortgage. Particularly, Parti-cularly, is this so when small amounts of money are borrowed bor-rowed against some personal property, and purchases are made of small items of personal per-sonal property, i. e., appliances, jewelry, and etc. What Is a Chattel The word chattel can be defined de-fined as any item of movable or immovable property except real estate and the things which have become a part of it This definition will suffice for our discussion of a chattel mortgage. From this explana- tion of the term it is apparent that the instrument covers only those things which are not land or - parts of the land. Sach things as can be moved about readily furnish a rough criterion criteri-on of that will be covered under un-der the term chattel. Such things are what we commonly refer to as personality, or personal per-sonal property. Here we might say, however, that such a definition de-finition of ' personal property can only be used as a general guide, for the law of personal property and what it is makes up a technical part of the law full of fine distinctions it is full of those "sharp quillets." What Is a Mortgage? The word mortgage means literally, a dead pledge. Mortons Mor-tons meaning dead, and gage meaning pledge. So, by mortgage mort-gage one pledges something of value as security for the performance per-formance of a duty, the mortgage mort-gage becoming void upon per- formance of the duty. The duty may be one to pay back to the lender some money which has been borrowed this is the usual application. -The Chattel Mortgage Now let us apply the words chattel and mortgage to the instrument we call the chattel mortgage. Sometimes people run short |