{
  "id": 5206764,
  "name": "Richard Thompson v. Walter M. Akin",
  "name_abbreviation": "Thompson v. Akin",
  "decision_date": "1899-03-10",
  "docket_number": "",
  "first_page": "62",
  "last_page": "66",
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    "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.",
    "id": 8837,
    "name": "Illinois Appellate Court"
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    "name_long": "Illinois",
    "name": "Ill."
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T15:36:26.617706+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "Richard Thompson v. Walter M. Akin."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Mr. Justice Creighton\ndelivered the opinion of the court.\nThis was an action in replevin in the Circuit Court of Franklin County, by appellee, against appellant and one William B. Martin, to recover certain horses, vehicles, harness and harness appliances, and to recover damages for the detention of the same. The principal defense relied upon by appellant and his co-defendant on the trial in the Circuit Court was an alleged chattel mortgage from appellee to appellant, covering the property in controversy, by the terms and provisions of which mortgage appellant claimed the right to take and hold the said property. Trial was by jury. Verdict and judgment in favor of appellee for the property and $85 damages.\nThe controlling question in the case is as to the validity of the chattel mortgage.\nThis involves a construction of Section 1 of the Act of 1895, Hurd, 1897, Chap. 95, Sec. 25. The section is: Be it enacted, etc., \u201c That all notes secured by chattel mortgages shall state upon their face that they are so secured, and when assigned by the payee therein named, shall be subject to all defenses existing between the payee and the payor of said notes, the same as if said notes were held by the payee therein named, and any chattel mortgage securing notes which do not state upon their face the fact of such security shall be absolutely void.\u201d\nAppellant contends that under this statute a chattel mortgage is valid between the parties, notwithstanding the note secured by it does not state upon its face that it is secured by chattel mortgage, and that such mortgage can be held to be void only when it \"is in the hands of one to whom the payee has assigned the note.\nIn Cohn v. The People, 149 Ill. 486, our Supreme Court says :\n\u201c It is one of the cardinal principles of construction that the intention of the law makers is to be found and given effect, and when there is otherwise doubt or obscurity in the act, or its meaning is doubtful, resort may be had to the title of the act to enable the court to discover the intent, and remove what otherwise might be uncertain or ambiguous.\u201d\nA statute, or any sentence, clause, or word thereof, is ambiguous when it is capable of being understood, by reasonably well-informed persons, in either of two or more senses. The word' void, as used in contracts, legal writings and statutes, is often an ambiguous word, and may mean a complete nullity, or it may mean only susceptible of being held, under certain conditions, to be a nullity. It may mean absolutely and under all conditions void, or it may mean only voidable under certain conditions.\nAppellant contends that the principal object aimed at by the. statute was to preserve to the maker of the note secured by chattel mortgage his right to defend against it in whose-soever hands it might come, to the same extent as if it had remained in the hands of the payee. We are of opinion that it was also the legislative purpose that the person to whom the payee might assign the note should have notice. The principal purpose that could be served by compliance with the requirement that the note shall state upon its face that it is secured by chattel mortgage, would be to notify persons to whom the payee might assign the note.\nIt is contended that when we examine the title of the act, in the light of the provision of the Constitution\u2014\" Ho act hereafter passed shall embrace more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title\u201d\u2014it becomes manifest that the word \u201cvoid\u201d applies only to the mortgage after the note has been assigned by the payee therein named; that if it could apply to a mortgage when the note secured by it had not been so assigned, the title of the act% would be misleading, or would be made to embrace more than one subject. The title of the act is : \u201c An act to regulate the assignment of notes secured by chattel mortgages, and to regulate the sale of property under the power of sale contained in chattel mortgages.\u201d\nWhen the general purpose of an act is declared in the title, the means for its accomplishment provided by the act will be presumed to be intended as a necessary incident. Larned v. Tiernan, 110 Ill. 173; Cohn v. People, 149 Ill. 486. The title to an act is neither misleading nor does the act embrace more than one subject because of the fact that the penalty or other means provided in the act for the accomplishment of the purpose of the act, are not disclosed in the title. The clause in the act, \u201cAnd any chattel mortgage securing notes which do not state upon their, face the fact of such security shall be absolutely void,\u201d is in the nature of a penalty, or means for the accomplishment of the purpose of the act. In our opinion, reference to the title of the act does not strengthen appellant\u2019s position.\nIt would seem unreasonable that the legislature should have intended that the penalty provided for the accomplishment of the purpose of the aot should not fall on any one who could be a party to the transaction.\nThe qualifying word makes the meaning more certain and emphasizes \u201c shall be absolutely void.\u201d\nWe are disposed to hold that the act applies as well to the mortgage while in the hands of the mortgagee as after it has been assigned. Many, if not all the States, have exercised the power, to a greater or less degree, by legislation, to regulate and control the business of securing debts by pawns and chattel mortgages. It appears to us that the intention of the legislature was that compliance with the requirement \u201c that all notes secured by chattel mortgage shall state upon their face that they are so secured \u201d should be a prerequisite, a condition precedent to the validity, for any purpose, of a chattel mortgage made to secure a note. That without such statement upon the face of the note such mortgage should \u201c be absolutely void.\u201d\nThis question was before the Appellate Court of the Second District, in the case of Quaintance v. Badham, 68 Ill. App. 87, where it ivas held that the chattel mortgage was void, though the note had not been \u201cassigned by the payee therein.\u201d\nSome time after the execution of the papers appellant sent his son with the note to the justice of the peace who drew it, with the request that the justice insert the words, \u201c This note is secured by chattel mortgage,\u201d and the justice, in the absence of the maker, and without his knowledge or consent, did so.\nAppellant contends that appellee afterward ratified the act of the justice in inserting the words, but the evidence falls far short of proving such ratification.\nMany errors are assigned, but with our view of the case it is wholly unnecessary for us to discuss them. The judgment of the Circuit Court is affirmed.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Mr. Justice Creighton"
      },
      {
        "text": "Mr. Justice Bigelow,\ndissenting.\nUnder the constitution if becomes the duty of the court,\n\u2022 in construing the act in question, to look to its title, and when this was done, it appears from it, and the body of the act itself, that the primary object of the law is, not to regulate the execution of chattel mortgages, but to regulate the assignment of notes secured by such mortgages, and that it in nowise affects the mortgage itself, until the notes secured by it are assigned, when the notes and mortgage become divorced and the latter becomes void. I am therefore of the opinion that a majority of the court have reached an incorrect conclusion in affirming the judgment,'and hence I feel compelled to dissent from it.",
        "type": "dissent",
        "author": "Mr. Justice Bigelow,"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "C. H. Layman, attorney for appellant.",
      "W. II. Williams and Hart & Spiller, attorneys for appellee."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "Richard Thompson v. Walter M. Akin.\n1. Chattel Mortgages\u2014 Under the Act of 1895.\u2014The clause, \u201cand any chattel mortgage securing notes which do not state upon their face the fact of such security, shall be absolutely void,\u201d in the act to regulate the assignments of notes secured by chattel mortgages,'etc. (Laws 1895, 360), applies as well to the mortgage while in the hands of the mortgagee as after it has been assigned.\n3. Notes\u2014Secured by Chattel Mortgages Must so State.\u2014A note which is secured by a chattel mortgage and does not state the fact upon its face renders the chattel mortgage absolutely void.\n3. Construction of Statutes\u2014 When to be Considered Ambiguous.\n\u25a0\u2014A statute, or any sentence, clause, or word thereof, is ambiguous when it is capable of being understood, by reasonably well-informed persons, in either of two or more senses.\n4. Words and Phrases\u2014Meaning of the Word \u201c Void.\"\u2014The word \u201cvoid.\u201d as used in contracts, legal waitings, and statutes, is often an ambiguous word, and may mean a complete nullity, or it may mean only susceptible of being held, under certain conditions, to be a nullity. It may mean absolutely and under all conditions void, or it may mean only voidable under certain conditions.\n5. Statutes\u2014When the Title Does Not Embrace More than One Subject.\u2014The title of an act is neither misleading nor does the act embrace more than one subject, because the penalty, or other means provided for the accomplishment of the purpose of the act, is not disclosed in the title.\nReplevin.\u2014Trial in the Circuit Court of Franklin County; the Hon. Edmund D. Youngblood, Judge, presiding. Verdict and judgment for plaintiff; appeal by defendant.\nHeard in this court at the August term, 1898.\nAffirmed.\nMr. Justice Bigelow dissenting. Opinion filed March 10, 1899.\nC. H. Layman, attorney for appellant.\nW. II. Williams and Hart & Spiller, attorneys for appellee."
  },
  "file_name": "0062-01",
  "first_page_order": 68,
  "last_page_order": 72
}