Detroit Steel Cooperage Co. v. Sistersville Brewing Co., 233 U.S. 712 (1914)

Detroit Steel Cooperage Company v.


Sistersville Brewing Company
No. 368


Argued May 8, 1914
Decided May 25, 1914
233 U.S. 712

CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

Syllabus

The common law knows no objection to what is commonly called a conditional sale.

Chattels, such as tanks, furnished for a brewery under a contract of conditional sale duly recorded, although indispensable as part of the completed structure and attached to the real estate as between the mortgagor and the mortgagee, are not so attached to the realty as to become a part thereof and subject to the lien of a prior mortgage as between the vendor of the tanks and the mortgagee, if, as in this case, they can be removed without the physical disintegration of the building. Holt v. Henley, 232 U.S. 637.

An owner of a chattel may lose title thereto without his consent by its incorporation into a structure in such manner that its removal would destroy the structure.

The mere knowledge that a chattel, delivered under a contract of conditional sale, will be attached to the freehold is of no importance, except as against innocent purchasers for value before the sale is recorded.

195 F. 447, 1023, reversed.

The facts, which involve claims of the vendor and the holder of a mortgage bond to certain tanks and fixtures delivered to the owner of brewery under a conditional sale, are stated in the opinion.