e creditors have a right to know what interest the mortgagee really
has in the property that secures to him rights superior to their own.
The rule should also be stated that where the rights of third parties
are in issue, it must appear that the mortgagee acquired the mortgage
before they had any rights to the property.

The statutes require that chattel mortgages should be acknowledged and
recorded. In some states the requirements are strict in respect to the
disinterestedness of the official who takes the acknowledgment. An
affidavit is another requirement. This must state several things,
especially that the mortgage was given in good faith, and the nature
and amount of the consideration.

What may be mortgaged? In general, any personal property that may be
sold; many of the statutes define it. They cover a life insurance
policy, corporation stock, railway rolling stock, seamen's wages,
growing crops and trees, profits from the use of a steamboat, premiums
earned by a horse, book accounts, leasehold interests, nursery stock,
besides many other things. Whenever fixtures annexed to real estate
retain the character of personal property they may be mortgaged. And
when animals are mortgaged their natural increase are included. A
mortgage made of an unfinished article will hold the article when
finished if it can be identified.

By the common law nothing could be mortgaged that was not in existence
at the time of the mortgage. By statute a mortgage may cover
after-acquired property, and this statute has become very important
especially with merchants, manufacturers, and others who are
constantly changing their stocks of goods.

When the mortgagor fails to pay his debt, the right of the mortgagee
to proceed in taking the property is usually regulated by statute,
except when the parties have agreed themselves and in conformity with
statute. The rights of the mortgagee depend in many cases on the
title, whether that has passed to him by virtue of the mortgage, or
whether it still remains conditionally in the mortgagor. Where the
mortgagor still retains the title, a clause is often put into the
mortgage to the effect that, should the mortgagor default in payment,
the mortgagee may take possession of the property and sell it; and
such a provision is valid and enforcible. Where the title is vested or
transferred to the mortgagee by virtue of the mortgage, this is
equivalent to giving him possession whenever he chooses to dema