Schaper v. Bibb

Alvey, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The mechanics’ lien law provides that every building erected “shall be subject toa lien for the payment of all debts contracted for work done or materials furnished for or about the same;” and the Legislature has expressly required that this law shall be construed liberally as a remedial law. Even without the express direction of ¹⁴⁸ the Legislature, this Court said, in Blake vs. Pitcher & Wilson, 46 Md., 464 , that the general language of the statute plainly indicates that the most liberal and comprehensive meaning should be given its provisions in favor of mechanics and material men. In this case the question is, whether the claim of the appellees, being for range, fire-place heaters, and the usual accessories of pipes, registers, &c., and work done in placing these articles in the house of the appellant, then in course of erection, is such as entitled the appellees to a lien therefor on the house, under the provisions of the statute?

The facts are, as shown by the record, that Wilson and Company, a firm composed of E. J. Wilson and George H. Dobson, Jr., on the 6th of Dec., 1881, entered into a contract with the appellees for the furnishing by the latter' of range and two fire-place heaters, with necessary attachments, for each of twenty-three houses, then being, or about to be, erected by the firm, on certain contiguous lots, the legal title to which appears to have been in Dobson, one of the firm of Wilson and Company. By the contract Wilson and Company were required to pay $56.50 per house, for such range and fire-place heaters, within thirty days after the completion of the contract by the appellees; and Wilson and Company were to have the privilege of calling for heaters and ranges as they needed them, provided they did not call, at any one time, for less than heaters and ranges for two houses; and if they did not take the whole lot within three months from the date of the contract, then the account for all the articles furnished up to the expiration of that time, should be considered due and payable. It is quite clear, therefore, that the contract was an entire and continuous one, for all the ranges and fireplace heaters to be furnished for the twenty-three houses. ¹⁴⁹ The range and fire-place lieaters for the house now owned by the appellant, being one of the twenty-three, were furnished on or about the 12th of December, 1887; and on or about the 14-th of December, 1887, the appellant purchased and took possession of the house. The appellees completed their entire contract, by furnishing all the materials and work required by its terms, by the 4th of Feb., 1888, within the time mentioned in the contract; and from that date the