2. By the performance by the pledgor of the contract secured. This is the normal way of terminating the pledge. To refuse to redeliver the collateral when the payment of the debt is tendered at or after maturity is a conversion by the pledgee, and the pledgor may maintain trover; such tender of payment discharges the pledgee's lien on the collateral but the debt remains, and the pledgee has a right of action on that. In case the pledgee sues on the debt and his debt is paid by sale of other property by the court, such payment terminates the pledge. If several debts are secured by the same collateral, the pledgor may specify to which he would have any of his payments apply; and in case he does not so specify the pledgee may apply it as he sees fit.
3. By conversion by the pledgee. To refuse to redeliver the pledge upon payment or tender, to become a purchaser of it him self, or any act of a similar tenor constitutes conversion, and, if the pledgor so chooses, such acts operate to terminate the pledge at once.
4. By sale of the pledge in any of the above named ways.
5. By act of the pledgee resulting in injury to the pledge; in such case the pledgor may terminate the pledge. Pledges are not terminated by the death or bankruptcy of the pledgor.
Warehouse Receipts—Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act One of the specific forms of bailment is that of warehousing. A warehouseman is engaged in the business of storing goods in his warehouse for hire. He is bound to exercise ordinary and reason able care of the goods entrusted to him, that is, to exercise reason able care in the method of storing; he does not guarantee them against loss by accidental fire, theft, vermin, etc., but he is liable for negligence for want of reasonable care in providing against such loss. The burden of proof of negligence is on the customer, but failure or refusal by a warehouseman to redeliver goods en trusted to him, or the redelivery of goods in a damaged condition, is prima facie evidence of negligence enough to shift the weight of evidence. The custom of the business is for warehousemen, on receipt of goods for storage, to issue a receipt or delivery order which describes the goods and upon presentation of which the goods will be surrendered to the customer, or to his order if the receipt is negotiable.
The Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, in conjunction with the American Warehousemen's Association and the Ameri can Bankers' Association, in 1906 adopted and recommended to the legislatures of the various states, for passage, the Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act. Since that date practically every
state has adopted this act in its statutes.
By this act a warehouseman is a person lawfully engaged in the business of storing goods for profit; on account of varying local conditions the states fix the limits as to who may carry on the business of warehousing. Warehouse receipts may be issued by any warehouseman. Such receipt must embody within its written or printed terms the following: 1. The location of the warehouse where the goods are stored.
2. The date of issue of the receipt.
3. The consecutive number of the receipt.
4. A statement whether the goods received will be delivered to the bearer, to a specified person, or to a specified person or his order.
5. The rate of storage charges.
6. A description of the goods or of the packages containing them.
7. The signature of the warehouseman, which may be made by his authorized agent.
8. If the receipt is issued for goods of which the warehouse man is owner, either solely or jointly in common with others, the fact of such ownership.
9. A statement of the amount of advances made and of liabilities incurred for which the warehouseman claims a lien. If the precise amount of such advances made or of such liabilities incurred is, at the time of the issue of the receipt, unknown to the warehouseman or to his agent who issues it, a statement of the fact that advances have been made or liabilities incurred and the purpose thereof is sufficient.
The warehouseman is liable, to any person injured thereby, for all damage caused by the omission from a negotiable receipt of any of these required terms. The warehouseman may insert in the receipt issued by him any other terms and conditions that he may see fit, provided they are not contrary to the Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act and are such as not in any wise to impair the obligation to exercise that degree of care in the safe-keeping of the goods which a reasonably careful man would exercise in re gard to similar goods of his own.
Classes of Receipts Warehouse receipts are of two classes: (r) non-negotiable re ceipts, in which it is stated that the goods received will be delivered to the depositor or to any other specified person; (2) negotiable receipts, in which it is stated that the goods re ceived will be delivered to the bearer or to the order of any person named in the receipt.