I. Law costs and all expenses incurred in the interest of the mass of the creditors;

2. Tithes. These constitute a lien or privilege against such crops as are subject to them ;

3. The claims of the vendor ;

4.

The claims of creditors who have a right of pledge or of retention;

5. Funeral expenses (including the mourning of the widow) suitable to the station and means of the deceased;

6. The expenses of the last illness; but in cases of chronic disease the privilege avails only for the expenses during the last six months before the decease (90);

7. Municipal taxes limited to the taxes on persons and personal property imposed by certain municipalities, and taxes to which a like privilege is attached by special statutes;

8. Rent;

8 (a). The owner of a thing who has lent, leased or pledged it, and who has not prevented its sale, has a right to be paid the proceeds of its sale after the preferential claims for law costs and expenses, and for rent, have been collected. The owner of a thing which has been stolen, who would not have lost his right to revendicate it had it not been judicially sold, has a similar right (91).

9. Servants' wages and those of employees of railway companies engaged in manual labour, and sums due for supplies of provisions.

The lien of domestic servants and hired persons is upon all the movable property of the debtor, but

(90) Quebec C.C., art. 2003.

(91) Quebec C.C., art. 1994. 2005a.

limited to wages for a period not exceeding one year previous to the time of the seizure or of the death (92). Clerks, apprentices and journeymen are entitled to a preference for wages for a period of arrears not exceeding three months, but limited to the merchandise and effects contained in the store, shop or workshop in which their services were required. Employees of railway companies engaged in manual labour have a lien upon all the movable property of the company for arrears not exceeding three months (93).

10. The claims of the Crown against persons accountable for its moneys (94).

The privileges specified under the numbers 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10 extend to all the movable property of the debtor, the others are special and affect only some particular objects.

Those who have supplied provisions to a household have a similar privilege to that of domestic servants for wages, under Quebec law, upon all the movable property of the debtor for the supplies furnished during the preceding twelve months (95).

Mutual fire insurance companies also have a privilege upon the movable property of the insured for the payment of assessments which may be imposed on the deposit notes of the members, which privilege takes rank immediately after municipal taxes and rates, and remains in force for the same time (96).

Priorities of rights of retention-Quebec.-Creditors having a right of pledge or of retention rank

(92) Quebec C.C. art. 2006.

(93) Quebec C.C. art. 2006; 59 Vict. (Que.), c. 41, S. 2. (94) Quebec C. C. art. 1994.

(95) Quebec C.C. art. 2006.

(96) Quebec C.C. art. 1994b; R.S.Q. art. 5826; 45 Vict. (Que.), c. 51, s. 49; 47 Vict. (Que.), c. 76, s. 2.

according to the nature of their pledge or of their claim.

The following is the order among them :

7. Workmen upon things repaired by them, and persons having a privilege in virtue of article 1994, c. of the Civil Code.

8. Purchasers against whom the right of redemption is exercised, for the reimbursement of the price and the moneys laid out upon the property. This privilege cannot, however, be exercised unless the right is still subsisting or could have been claimed at the time of the seizure, if the thing has been sold (97).

(97) Quebec Civil Code, art 2001; 60 Vict. (Que.), c. 50, s. 34.

CHAPTER VII.

SELLER'S LIEN FOR PRICE.

Rights of unpaid seller. Notwithstanding that the property in the goods may have passed to the buyer, the unpaid seller of goods, as such, has by implication of law (a) A lien on the goods or right to retain them for the price while he is in possession of them (1). (b) In case of the insolvency of the buyer, a right of stopping the goods in transitu after he has parted with the possession of them; (c) A right of re-sale in certain cases on the purchaser's default.

Where the property in goods has not passed to the buyer, the unpaid seller has, in addition to his other remedies, a right of withholding delivery similar to and co-extensive with his rights of lien and stoppage in transitu, where the property has passed to the buyer (2).

When there is no actual agreement as to price or time of payment, the presumption of law is that the buyer is to pay a reasonable price, and in the absence of evidence to the contrary a promise is implied to pay on delivery (3).

Seller's lien for price. The unpaid seller of goods who is in possession of them is (4) generally entitled to retain possession of them until payment or tender of the price in the following cases, namely:

(1) Dixon v. Yates (1833) 5 B. & Ad. 313.

(2) Lord v. Price (1874) 9 Ex. 54.

(3) Christie v. Burnett 10 Ont. R. 609.

(4) Martindale v. Smith (1841) 1 Q. B. 389; Bloxam v. Saunders 4 B. & C., 948.

(a) Where the goods have been sold without any stipulation as to credit; (b) Where the goods have been sold on credit, but the term of credit has expired; (c) Where the buyer becomes insolvent.

Where goods remain in the possession of the vendors and no actual delivery has been made to the vendee, the vendor's lien will revive on the insolvency of the vendee although the goods are held by the vendors as warehousemen for the vendee (5). And it is not imperative for the exercise of this right that there should first be a judicial finding of insolvency (6).

If the purchaser has agreed with the vendor to pay certain duties on the goods and these are afterwards properly paid by the vendor, the vendor's lien will cover the amount of such duties (7).

The vendor's lien arises out of his original ownership and dominion over the goods and is independent of actual possession by the vendor so long as actual possession has not been obtained by the vendee, and payment or a tender of the price is a condition precedent on the buyer's part before the making of which he has no right to the possession (8).

The vendor's lien is in that respect different from other possessory liens, the claimants of which have no other title than the possession of the chattel upon which the lien is claimed. The passing of the property in cordwood does not vest the right of possession without payment of the price, which by the contract was to be paid in cash on the final measurement, after piling ready to be loaded on railway cars;

(5) Grice v. Richardson (1877) 3 App. Cas. 319. (6) The Tigress (1863) 32 L. J. Adm. 97.

(7) Winks v. Hassall 9 B. & C. 372.

(8) Bloxam v. Saunders (1825) 4 B. & C. 941, 948.