Joseph McKenna

“ A brief definition of a mortgage under modern law is not easy to make. At common law a mortgage was a conditional conveyance to secure the payment of money or the performance of some act, to be void upon such payment or performance. By more modern law and under the statutes of many states a mortgage is a mere lien upon land. ”

“ The interest of a mortgagee in the land is, therefore, conveyed to him by the mortgagor, and even if, under the laws of Montana, a mortgage is primarily security for a debt, and creates a lien only, it is a lien which may become the title. ”

“ It is insisted, however, that all of the conditions of the repayment have not been complied with; that there has not been a surrender of the duplicate receipt, as provided by the statute. Hoffeld v. United States, 186 U.S. 273, 46 L. ed. 1160, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 927. There is certainly no direct finding to that effect. ”