LAW OF THE FARM. 297 



definition of what constitutes constructive annexation, or a satisfactory reason 

 in some cases. Your wheat or corn, when growing, is a part of the land, and 

 passes with a conveyance to the purchaser; but if it has been cut, threshed, 

 and stored away in the barn or granary, it is personal property and does not 

 pass ; neither do your cattle or horses, though grazing on the farm, pass to 

 the purchaser of the farm. 



I will give a few examples of what have been held by the courts to be fixtures : 

 Steam engines, boilers, fire-grates, bolted and secured on permanent founda- 

 tions ; bathing tubs and lead pipe fastened to the floors and walls of a dwelling 

 with nails; furnaces connected with the house; stills and kettles set in brick 

 work ; gas fittings ; an- iron safe let into a brick wall and surrounded with 

 brick and mortar. So of a threshing machine fixed by bolts and screws to 

 posts let into the ground ; cider mill and press, the press standing upon cross 

 sills lying upon bed sills resting on flat stones in the ground ; a cotton gin 

 fastened to the house by nails and braces; a water pipe through which water 

 is supplied to the house. But a planing machine, fire pump, saw benches and 

 saws worked by hand, being complete in themselves as machines, as were also 

 the copper pipes for steaming hubs, all being of equal use and value wher- 

 ever wanted, affixed to the building only for convenience in using, and capable 

 of removal without injury to the building or to themselves, were held to be 

 chattels and not a part of the freehold. 



In our own State it has been held that machinery not made expressly for 

 use in the building in which it is placed, but capable of beneficial use if 

 removed and set up in some other building, is personalty or realty according 

 to the intent or understanding of the parties fairly deducible from the circum- 

 stances. The general rule is that all fixtures, whether actually or constructively 

 annexed to the realty, pass by a conveyance of the freehold where there is 

 nothing to indicate a contrary intention ; and it makes no difference that the 

 sale is made by the owner himself or by virtue of an execution or mortgage 

 foreclosure. 



I would say, in conclusion, that with respect to many articles which may be 

 placed upon the farm, in the absence of any specific intention on the subject 

 whether the article in controversy is or is not in law a part of the land and so 

 goes with the land to the grantee, the cases are numerous and are involved in 

 •considerable confusion, and it sometimes requires one to act according to the 

 golden rule in order to keep out of uncertain litigation. 



LECTUKE NUMBER SIX. 



I arn persuaded that when I speak of common law, as distinguished from 

 statute law, I am not fully understood. A man for whose intelligence and 

 culture I have a very high appreciation asked me the other day what I meant 

 by the common law, and inquired very earnestly if all the law was not to be 

 found in the statutes. It would seem, therefore, quite proper, that I should 

 explain. 



The common law is a system of rules which have been adopted by the 

 universal consent and immemorial practice of the people without receiving the 

 express authority of the legislative power. It is derived from the common law 



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