U.S. Supreme Court PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK v. MACLAY, 288 U.S. 290 (1933)

[Page 288 U.S. 290, 294]

about a change of title or possession. Later cases have drawn a distinction between the liens of judgments and of mortgages. These last have been thought to have the effect of a conveyance, divesting the debtor of his title and leaving nothing but an equity to which a preference can attach. Conard v. Atlantic Insurance Co., 1 Pet. 386; Brent v. Bank of Washington, 10 Pet. 596, 611, 612; Savings & Loan Society v. Multnomah County, 169 U.S. 421, 428, 18 S.Ct. 392. We do not now determine whether the holding in the mortgage cases is to be applied in jurisdictions where a mortgage upon real estate is a lien and nothing more (Trimm v. Marsh, 54 N.Y. 599, 13 Am.Rep. 623), nor whether, if so applied, it imports a modification of the holding in the Thelusson Case as to the lien of a judgment. Cf. United States v. Canal Bank, 3 Story 79, 81, Fed. Cas. No. 14,715; United States v. Duncan, 4 McLean 607, 630, 12 Ill. 523, Fed. Cas. No. 15003. A mortgage, even though a lien is one much more specific than a judgment or a tax, much closer to ownership. Conard v. Atlantic Insurance Co., supra, page 443 of 1 Pet.; In re Boyd, 4 Sawy. 262, 264, Fed. Cas. No. 1,746. Into these refinements and their consequences, there is no need to enter now. Enough for present purposes that the statutory preference must prevail against the lien of a tax not presently enforceable, but serving merely as a caveat of a more perfect lien to come.

The judgment is

Affirmed.