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![handle is hein.slavery/ussccases0415 and id is 1 raw text is: THE FOSSAT CASE.
Syllabus.
mortgaged all their property, real and personal, and all their franchises.
The court held that the rolling stock acquired subsequently to the execution
of the mortgage belonged to the mortgagee. The court say, The object
of the act being to give the bondholders a substantial and available security
for their money, and a preference over other creditors not previously
secured, can only be answered by so construing the law authorizing the
mortgage as to give the bondholders security upon the road itself, as the
general subject-matter of the mortgage, and upon the changing and shifting
property of the road as part and parcel, by accession, of the thing mort-
gaged.
In _Phillips v. Winslow, in Kentucky, it was held that, in equity, the
rolling stock acquired subsequent to the execution of the mortgage, passed
as an accession or fixture.
In Redfield on Railways,* it is said, indeed, that rolling stock is an acces-
sory, though not a fixture. The distinction is, perhaps, one of words. In
the strict technical sense of the word, as used in the old cases, rolling stock
is not a fixture; but within the reason and philosophy of the modern cases
it would seem to be so. If it must not be called a fixture, in deference to the
old cases, it is yet an accessory of that sort, which has every element of one;
and to be regarded accordingly, however named.
The conclusion is, that rolling stock, put and used upon a railroad, passes
with a conveyance of the road, even without mention or specific descrip-
fion.
THE FoSSAT OR QUICKSILVER MINE CASE.
1. An appeal lies to this court from a decree of the District Court for
California, in a proceeding under the act of 14th of June, 1860 (12 Sta-
tutes at Large, 83), commonly called the Survey Law.
2. If no appeal from such a decree be taken by the United States, they
may appear in this court as appellees, but cannot demand a reversal or
change of the decree.
8. If a California land claim has been confirmed by a decree of the District
Court under the act of 3d of March, 1851 (9 Statutes at Large, 631), and
the decree of confirmation fixing the boundaries of the tract stands
unreversed, a survey under it is the execution of that decree, and must
conform to it in all respects.
4. The Survey Laiv of 14th of June, 1860, gives the District Court no power
to amend or change the decree of confirmation.
5. When the title-papers designate the beginning-place of a straight line,
ahd fix its course by requiring that it shall pass a known and ascer-
tained point to its termination at a mountain, such line cannot be
varied by the fact that a rough draft (a Mexican diseffo) on which it is
* Page 576, note.
Dec. 1864.]](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ussccases0415&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)