Nathan Clifford

“ Cases may arise, undoubtedly, where the rights and responsibilites of the parties are so completely defined by the contract, that neither party is at liberty to claim any thing beyond the terms of the contract, if the contract is in all respects fulfilled. Consequently, lien laws do not in general create a lien in favor of a material-man who has accepted in full a different security at the time the contract or agreement was made. ”

“ Suppose the facts are so: still it is insisted by the respondent, as matter of law, that the complainant is not entitled to the relief he seeks, for the reason that the contract set up by him is a special contract. The theory is, that the materials having been furnished upon the verbal contract set out in the bill of complaint, that he, the complainant, should furnish the materials, and that she, the respondent, should convey lot thirty-seven to him in payment for the same, that that contract creates no lien, as the materials were furnished solely upon the faith of the special agreement ”

“ If the labor has been performed or the materials furnished, no matter in what the owner agreed to pay, if he has not paid in any way, the laborer or mechanic has a right to resort to the security provided by law, unless the rights of third persons intervene before he gives the required notice.
Contracts of a special character, such as to give a mortgage to the laborer or mechanic, if duly executed under circumstances showing that the claim to a lien was not intended by the parties, may defeat such a claim ”