CH. 2, s. 3. Pr. II. T. 10, charge of which he had no notice; and it makes no difference that a subsequent incumbrancer was the first to give notice to the charterers of his charge on the freight (a). 1142. The transmission of a mortgage, by death, bankruptcy, marriage, etc., must be registered (b). 1143. When a mortgage is discharged, satisfaction is to be entered on the registry (c). 1144. (a) Liverpool Marine Credit Co. v. Wilson, L. R. 7 Ch. Ap. 507. (b) Sm. Merc. Law, 9th ed. 190; Mau. & Pol. 35; 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, s. 73-75. (c) Sm. Merc. Law, 9th ed. 190: Mau. & Pol. 37; 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, s. 68. OF CHAPTER III. INTERESTS UNDER STATUTES MERCHANT, STATUTES STAPLE, RECOGNISANCES, JUDGMENTS, DECREES, ORDERS, PART II. A STATUTE merchant is a bond or contract upon record, T. 10, CH. 3. under the hand and seal of a debtor, publicly acknow- Statute ledged before the mayor of the place, and attested by the merchant, Royal seal (a). 1145. staple. A statute staple is a bond of record acknowledged before Statute the mayor of the staple, and attested by the seal of the staple (b). 1146. sance in the statute staple. The statute staple was only intended for persons con- Recogni cerned in trade; but it became used so universally, that nature of a an Act was made in 23 Hen. 8, prohibiting any persons but merchants from taking it. But this Act created a new kind of security, called a recognisance in the nature of a statute staple, which is a bond acknowledged before the Justices of the Queen's Bench or Common Pleas, the mayor of the staple at Westminster, or the recorder of London, and enrolled, upon which the same advantages may be had as upon a statute staple (c). The form of a recognisance is this: "That A. B. doth acknowledge to owe to our Sovereign Lady the Queen or to C. D. the sum of 100l.," with condition to be void on performance of the thing stipulated (d). 1147. (a) 2 Cruise T. 14, § 8; Coote Mortg., 3rd ed. 36, 74. This security was created by the statute 11 Edward 1, extended by the statute 13 Edward 1, stat. 3. (b) 2 Cruise T. 14, § 12; Coote VOL. I. Mortg., 3rd ed. 74. This security (e) 2 Cruise T. 14, § 13; Coote (d) 4 Cruise T. 32, c. 8. § 19. PART II. T. 10, CH. 3. General nature and these The statute merchant, the statute staple, and the recognisance in the nature of a statute staple, then, are all tere recorded acknowledgments of a debt. And in each case, if the debt is not paid by a certain day, the sheriff is authorised to deliver the lands as well as goods of the debtor to the creditor "by a reasonable extent, to hold them until such time as the debt is wholly levied" (a). 1148. securities. Registry of statutes and recognisances. Disuse of them. Elegit. By the stat. 27 Eliz. c. 4, ss. 7, 8, statutes merchant and statutes staple shall, within six months after they are acknowledged, be entered in a book by the clerk of recognisances; and if not brought to him for that purpose within four months, they shall be void against subsequent purchasers. 1149. By the Statute of Frauds, 29 Car. 2, c. 3, s. 18, reesgnisances shall only bind bonâ fide purchasers from the time of enrolment. And by the stat. 8 Geo. 1, c. 25, recognisances in the nature of a statute staple are required to be enrolled and docketed for the purpose of searches by purchasers and others. And some other regulations have been made respecting them by recent Acts. (See intra, par. 1167-8, 1192.) 1150. These statutes and recognisances are now disused; but whatever relates to the effect of a statute staple, is still of practical importance, as being applicable to many cases where the Crown is creditor (b). 1151. It is enacted by the Statute of Westminster 2, 13 Edw. 1, c. 18, that when a debt is recovered or acknowledged, or damages adjudged in the King's Courts, the plaintiff shall have his election either to have a writ of fieri facias, or else that the sheriff shall deliver to him all the chattels of the debtor, saving only his oxen and beasts of the plough, and also one-half of his lands, until the debt shall be levied upon a reasonable price or extent: the word (b) Burton. § 871. (a) Burton, § 869: Coote Mortg., 3rd ed. 76. "price" referring to the chattels, and the word "extent to the lands. In consequence of this statute, a writ was framed, under which the sheriff first causes the goods and chattels to be appraised by a jury; and if they are insufficient to pay the debt, then the jury put an annual value on the lands, and the sheriff delivers the goods and chattels and a moiety of the land to the creditor, under the old law, or the whole under the new. This writ was called a writ of elegit, because the creditor thereby elected to sue out execution against the lands, instead of proceeding at common law against the goods alone by writ of fieri facias (a). 1152. PART II. T. 10, CH. 3. statute Upon the entry of the cognisee into the lands extended, Tenancy by he is called tenant by statute merchant, statute staple, or merchant, elegit (b). 1153. statute staple, or elegit. attorney to confess judgment In consequence of the word "acknowledged" in the Warrant of Statute of Westminster 2, it became a common practice when money was borrowed, for the debtor not only to execute a bond to the creditor, but also a warrant of attorney addressed to two or more attorneys, authorising them to acknowledge a judgment for the money, which enabled the creditor to sue out a writ of elegit as effectually as if the judgment had been obtained in an adversary suit (c). 1154. of the remedy by Vict. c. 110. Under the stat. 1 & 2 Vict. c. 110, the whole of the lands Extension may be taken, and the remedy of the creditor is in other creditor's respects much extended (d). By s. 11, it is enacted, that stat. 12 (subject to a proviso as to purchasers, etc., before the commencement of the Act) "it shall be lawful for the sheriff or other officer to whom any writ of elegit, or any precept (a) 2 Cruise T. 14, § 17; Coote Mortg., 3rd ed. 36, 37; 2 Saund. Rep. 6th ed. by Wms. 98 e and g n (k): Lush's Practice by Steph. 2nd ed. 470; Arch. by Prentice, 9th ed. 633. (b) 2 Cruise T. 14. § 76. (c) 2 Cruise T. 14, § 20; Coote Mortg., 3rd ed. 39. (d) See Sugden's Concise View, 383-386. T. 10, CH. 3. PART II in pursuance thereof, shall be directed, at the suit of any person, upon any judgment which at the time appointed for the commencement of this Act shall have been recovered, or shall be thereafter recovered in any action in any of Her Majesty's superior Courts at Westminster, to make and deliver execution unto the party in that behalf suing of all such lands, tenements, rectories, tithes, rents, and hereditaments, including lands and hereditaments of copyhold or customary tenure, as the person against whom execution is so sued, or any person in trust for him, shall have been seised or possessed of at the time of entering up the said judgment, or at any time afterwards, or over which such person shall at the time of entering up such judgment, or at any time afterwards, have any disposing power which he might without the assent of any other person exercise for his own benefit, in like manner as the sheriff or other officer may now make and deliver execution of one moiety of the lands and tenements of any person against whom a writ of elegit is sued out; which lands, tenements, rectories, tithes, rents, and hereditaments by force and virtue of such execution, shall accordingly be held and enjoyed by the party to whom such execution shall be so made and delivered, subject to such account in the Court out of which such execution shall have been sued out as a tenant by elegit is now subject to in a Court of Equity." 1155. Judgment to operate in equity on real estate. By s. 13 it is enacted, that (subject to a proviso as to as a charge purchasers, etc., before the commencement of the Act) "a judgment already entered up or to be hereafter entered up against any person in any of Her Majesty's superior Courts at Westminster shall operate as a charge upon all lands, tenements, rectories, advowsons, tithes, rents, and hereditaments (including lands and hereditaments of copyhold or customary tenure), of or to which such person shall at the time of entering up such judgment, or at any time after |