Benjamin N. Cardozo

“ To hold that a lien has progressed to such a point as to be a warning to mortgagees and purchasers of a contingent liability, like a notice of lis pendens, is far from holding that, while the liability is unliquidated and unknown, the lien thus created is perfect and specific. ”

“ Against mortgagees and purchasers a lien perfected afterwards may take effect by relation as of the date of the inchoate lien through which mortgagees and purchasers became chargeable with notice. The doctrine of relation will not divest the United States of the preference that accrued when receivers were appointed.
In what has been written there has been an assumption in favor of the petitioner that the tax would have priority if its amount had been liquidated before rights and interests became static through insolvency proceedings. ”

“ 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., 7 L.Ed. 189; 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. ”