Lien

Lien (the tacita hypotheca of the civil law), in English, Irish, and American law, means the security or hold over goods or land for a debt which is due from the owner of the goods, &c. to the person in whose possession they are for the time. Possession is in general essential to constitute a lien, for the moment the goods are voluntarily parted with the lien is gone. There is an exception, however, in the case of traders like factors, and a lien, though lost, may revive if the property comes again into the possession of the creditor. Liens are general or particular. Thus, a solicitor has a general lien over his client's money, papers, and title-deeds till the amount of his bill of costs is paid. So have bankers, dyers, calico-printers, factors. A particular lien is a lien over goods, for a debt contracted in respect of such goods, as for the price of them, or some labour expended on them. Thus, a miller has a lien on the flour he has ground, a trainer on the horse he has trained, &c. A general lien is favoured by law; a particular lien is construed strictly, for it acts in favour of one creditor as against the others. There are also maritime liens and equitable liens, which do not require possession to constitute the right. The Statute of Limitations does not affect a lien, since it does not take away the right, but only bars its ordinary enforcement by action. In Scotland lien is generally called either Retention or Hypothec (see HYPOTHEC). See works by D. Y. Overton (New York, 1883) and L. A. Jones (2 vols. Boston, 1888).