Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ We start, however, with the principle that an informal business transaction should be construed as adopting whatever form consistent with the facts is most fitted to reach the result seemingly desired. ”

“ Even if their lien was only inchoate when the suit was begun (which we do not intimate) , they had a right to protect their interest, and of course were not deprived of it by the plaintiff's reaching the result that they also desired. Having a lien upon the fund, as soon as it was identified they could follow it into the hands of the appellant Barnes. ”

“ For the same reason the latter firm filed no claim against the estate of Barnes, thinking that it owed them nothing, but that they had one third of the contingent fee. It is not necessary to consider whether the lien attached to what we have called the res, before the fund was received, as a covenant to set apart rents and profits creates a lien upon the land. ”