trustees and other similar persons, are not, in many states, liable to attachment in their representative capacity.

By attachment the plaintiff gains a lien on the attached property, which lien will await the judgment of the court in the suit. The attaching officer has a special property in the attached property, with all the rights of an owner, if any one interferes with his possession. He holds it awaiting the judgment of the court, to turn it over to the defendant, if the attachment is dissolved, or to have it ready for the plaintiff to satisfy his claim, in case the suit is decided in his favor. In some states (Alabama, Louisiana, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, and others), by a provision of the stutute, the defendant can retain possession of the property, by executing a bond, with sureties, for its delivery to satisfy the execution, if the plaintiff obtains judgment in the suit, or at such other time and place as the court may direct. Such bonded property cannot be attached by another creditor. In many states also the defendant may dissolve the attachment by giving a bond, with sureties, that he will pay such judgment as the plaintiff may obtain in the suit.

In the New England States attachment is a right which is incident to the summons in all suits arising out of contracts. The summons is, of course, the writ by which the defendant is commanded to appear in a certain court to answer to the plaintiff's charge. In the other states a writ of attachment is issued after suit is begun, only upon the plaintiff's making an affidavit setting forth his demand and the reason for which he claims the right. Generally he may obtain an attachment if the defendant is a non-resident of the state, or if he is about to remove his goods from the state, or if he is about to put his goods in the hands of another, or if he has removed himself from the state or county for a certain period in order to avoid the service of a summons. It is usual to require a bond of the plaintiff issuing a writ of attachment, to indemnify the defendant in case the suit is decided for him and he has been injured by the attachment. In some states, too, attachments issued against a non-resident of the state are spoken of as foreign, and those against residents as domestic; and if such a distinction is observed, in a domestic attachment the proceeds may be shared by other creditors who come into court and claim the right, while foreign attachments are for the attaching party's sole benefit.

An attachment is dissolved by a final judgment of the court in

favor of the defendant.

The death of the defendant, or the annulling of the charter of a defendant corporation, during the progress of the suit, will in a few states dissolve an attachment.

Judgment and Execution. A suit is ended by the court's giving a final judgment, either for the plaintiff or for the defendant, at the same time fixing the amount in dispute, if judgment is for the plaintiff. Execution is the act of carrying into effect the final judgment of a court, and is the means of obtaining the debt or damages recovered by the judgment. The term "execution" is also applied to the writ by which the sheriff of the county is commanded to cause to be made or levied out of the goods and chattels or real estate of the defendant, the sum recovered in the suit. This writ must be taken out within a year and a day (or other time fixed by statute) after judgment is given.

The object of execution is, that the sheriff may seize and sell the defendant's property, or seize his person and imprison him until he pays the judgment or is dicharged by a judicial decree of insolvency. Formerly execution could only be had against the personal property of the defendant, but now generally it may be had against real estate also. Real estate, however, cannot be sold on execution in some states, unless a sheriff's jury find that its profits and rents will not pay the judgment debt within seven years, or other time fixed by the law. The sheriff's jury, where it is not sold, fix a valuation on it and it is then given to the plaintiff until his debt is satisfied out of the profits. If property of any kind is sold under execution, the proceeds go to satisfy the judgment and any costs or charges; and then, if there is any surplus, it belongs to the defend

ant.

By the Homestead and Exemption laws of many states, certain kinds and amounts of property are exempted from attachment and sale on execution.

Garnishment. This is also spoken of in the New England States as the trustee process. It is a process of attaching money or goods, due a defendant, in the hands of a third person; and is almost generally established in our states. The person in whose hands are the money or goods attached, is called the garnishee or trustee. This process is similar to the writ of attachment, and has nearly the same

local peculiarities. In the New England States a suit may be begun with it, while in other states it is either accessory to the writ of attachment, or is used as a means of enforcing a judgment obtained in a suit where there is no property in the defendant's possession on which execution may be had. In these states, an affidavit usually has to be made by the plaintiff, setting forth his demand on the defendant, and a good cause why he should summon a certain person as garnishee for the defendant; as, in some instances, that he cannot secure his claim by ordinary process of attachment. Often, too, he must give a bond, as in attachments.

The following example will illustrate how this process is used in Massachusetts. A is in debt to B, but has no property, or none in his possession, which B can get hold of in case he brings a suit at law for his debt. A has, however, deposited with C, property or credits of some kind; or, it may be, he has some valid claim against C, as for goods sold, or services rendered, or money loaned. B may, therefore, sue A with a trustee writ, and summon C as the trustee or garnishee of A as to this property in his (C's) hands or as to A's claims against C. C must not then return this property or pay over these claims to A, but must await the result of the suit. If B obtains a judgment, he has his execution against this property of A in C's hands, or may collect these claims of A against C, to satisfy his judgment.

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The plaintiff can, of course, hold the garnishee only so long as he has a right to enforce his claim against the defendant, and there can be no judgment against the garnishee until there has been a judgment against the defendant. The existence of the indebtedness, or the possession of the property by the garnishee, must be positively shown by the plaintiff. The garnishee or trustee is usually summoned into court to give his sworn testimony as to these facts. some states his testimony is conclusive of them, but in most states it can be controverted. At any rate there must be a clear admission of a debt due the defendant, or of the possession of money or other property of the defendant. The garnishee may, therefore, avail himself of any defense which would be good in a suit, either brought on the claim, or for the money or property, by the defendant. Thus, if the defendant's claim against the garnishee is barred by the statute of limitations, the plaintiff's claim on the garnishee would also be barred.

No one, in any official capacity created by the law, can be summoned as garnishee for the money or property held by him by virtue of his office, unless it is so provided by statute. Thus, an administrator cannot ordinarily be charged as garnishee of a creditor of his intestate; nor an executor for a legacy bequeathed by his testator; nor a trustee or assignee of an insolvent or bankrupt. No one will be adjudged a garnishee, if the defendant has already obtained a judgment against him on which an execution may be had, or if he has already given his negotiable note to the defendant for the debt, the note not being yet due. If a judgment is once obtained against a garnishee, and he satisfies it under an execution, he is fully discharged from any further liability to the defendant on the claim or property so recovered.

Mechanics' Liens.-To assist and protect mechanics in obtaining their wages, it is provided now in almost every state that a mechanic working on the construction or repair of certain property, or one providing materials for such work, shall have a lien on the property to secure the payment of his wages and the price of the materials. These laws are of very recent origin, and can hardly be said to have as yet become settled in their various forms and provisions. The methods in which these liens may be obtained and enforced in the different states, vary. If the lien is claimed for work done, or materials provided for the construction or repair of a building, usually the claimant must file a statement of his account within a certain statutory period (for instance thirty days) after the work is finished, in the office of the county clerk; and then, within a certain other period, he must petition a court having jurisdiction in the matter, for a sale of the property. A trial is had on this petition, and if the claim is sustained, the court decrees a sale to satisfy the lien. Unless the contract for the work or materials is made directly with the owner of the real estate, the party claiming the lien must have notified the owner, within a certain time after beginning the work, that he should claim this lien.

Where liens are allowed for work on other kinds of property, the provisions for obtaining and enforcing them are similar, but probably are more summary. The statement of the claimant's account should be filed with the town or city clerk, where such filing is required. But with regard to certain kinds of personal property at least, probably if after a written demand for payment, after the work is completed, or the

services rendered, payment is not made within a certain time, a petition may then be made to the proper court asking for a sale of the property on which the lien is had.

Homesteads. In many states, for the protection of a debtor's wife and family, the statutes provide for the exemption of a certain amount, or value, of real estate, occupied by a debtor as his homestead. from attachment and from sale on execution, except in some states for taxes or for wages for labor to a certain amount. The statutory provisions which govern homesteads are various. In some states they are limited in their money value; in other states, in the quantity of land exempted. The statutes usually provide that the homestead must be distinctly defined and set apart, in order to prevent frauds on the creditors; and how this shall be done. They may be designated otherwise, either by being publicly recorded, or by visible occupancy and use as a homestead, or by the actual setting apart of the homestead by a court.

In some states restraints are put on the selling of a homestead by the owner; and in most states the wife of the owner must join in a deed of the real estate set apart as a homestead, releasing this right. In some states also the homestead, on the death of the owner, descends to the widow and their children under age, free from liability for the deceased's debts. Every person who is the head of a family, or is over twenty-one years of age, and who is a citizen of the United States, or has declared his intention to become such, may take quarter section or less of unappropriated public lands as a homestead.

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The right of exemption is lost by an abandonment of the homestead by the owner, with a clear intention of no longer treating it as his residence. Thus, a lease of the homestead for a year and a residence elsewhere, has been held to forfeit it.

It is believed that there are homestead laws in all the states, except Delaware, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia.

Exemptions. Exemption is a right given by law to a debtor to retain a portion of his property free from a sale on execution at the suit of a creditor.

The common law only exempted necessary wearing apparel in such cases. Now, however, in all our states, property of certain