Commercial Investment Trust v. Albemarle Motor Co.

Adams, J. The registration of the chattel mortgage antedates that of the contract between the plaintiff and the Albemarle Motor Company; if, therefore, the contract is a conditional Sale of the cars, the chattel mortgage has priority, and the debt due the bank should be paid. C. S., 3312; Observer Co. v. Little, 175 N. C., 42. What, then, is the legal effect of the contract? If personal property is delivered by one person to another under the terms of a contract whereby the latter is to acquire the retained title to the property upon the performance of a condition, such as the payment of the purchase price at a certain time, or in a designated manner, or by giving his note for the price, the transaction is a conditional sale. Whitlock v. Lumber Co., 145 N. C., 120; Wilcox v. Cherry, 123 N. C., 79; Barrington v. Skinner, 117 N. C., 47; Frick v. Hilliard, 95 N. C., 117; Vasser v. Buxton, 86 N. C., 335; Clayton v. Hester, 80 N. C., 275; Parris v. Roberts, 34 N. C., 268; Ellison v. Jones, 26 N. C., 48. If treated as a bailment, a conditional sale is a bailment with the right in the bailee to become the owner of the property upon performance of the condition. The contract, when subjected to the test of these decisions, is a sale with title retained — a conditional sale; it refers to the cars as “purchased” by the motor company; to the payment of 20 per cent of the price; to acceptances given by the company, and to the intention of the parties to preserve the seller’s title until the acceptances and any other indebtedness due by the company were fully paid. This is much more than a bare contract of agency. There is No error.