FIXTUR ES. Personal chattels affixed to real estate, which may be severed and remov ed by the party who has affixed them, or by his personal representative, against the will of the owner of the freehold. There is much dispute among the authorities as to what is a proper definition. Bro. Fiat. 1; Tyler's Fist. 35 ; 6 Am. L. Rev. 412, where various definitions are reviewed. A "fixture" former ly meant any chattel which on becoming af fixed to the soil became a part of the realty. It now means those things which formed an exception to that rule and can be removed by the person who affixed them to the soil ; L. R. 4 Ex. 328.
Anything fixed or attached to a building, and used in connection with it, movable or immovable. Whenever the appendage is of such a nature that it is not part and parcel of the building, but may be removed without injury to the building, then it is a movable fixture and does not pass with a conveyance of the freehold. If, however, it be so con nected with the building, that it cannot be severed from it without injury to the build ing, then it is part of the realty and passes with the conveyance of the soil ; Capital City Ins. Co. v. Caldwell, 95 Ala. 77, 10 South. 355.
To entitle a tenant to the value of trade fixtures attached by him to property, it Is not necessary that they can be removed without injury to the fixtures. The true test is that they gap be removed without injury to the freehog; In re City of New York, 192 N. Y. 295, 84 N. E. 1105, 18 L. R. A. (N. S.) 423, 127 Am. St. Rep. 903.
The annexation may be actual or construc tive. 1st, By actual annexation is under stood every mode by which a chattel can be joined or united to the freehold. The article must not be merely laid upon the ground ; it must be fastened, fixed, or set into the land, or into some such erection as is unquestion ably a part of the realty ; otherwise it is in no sense a fixture ; Bull. N. P. 34 ; 3 East 38 ; Walker v. Sherman, 20 Wend. Y.) 636 ; Taffe v. Warnick, 3 Blackf. (Ind.) 111, 23 Am. Dec. 383. Locks, iron stoves set in brick work, posts, window-blinds, and a mirror firmly attached to the chimney breast by molding, afford examples of actual annexa tion; see Pillow v. Love, 5 Hayw. (Tenn.)
109 ; Holmes v. Tremper, 20 Johns. (N. Y.) 29, 11 Am. Dec. 238 ; Kirwan v. Latour, 1 Harr. & J. (Md.) 289, 2 Am. Dec. 519 ; McClintock v. Graham, 3 McCord (S. C.) 553 ; Swift v. Thompson, 9 Conn. 63, 21 Am. Dec. 718 ; God dard v. Chase, 7 Mass. 432 ; McFadden v. Crawford, 36 W. Va. 671, 15 S. E. 408, 32 Am. St. Rep. 894 ; Spinney v. Barbe, 43 Ill. App. 585.
Machinery in a planing mill, securely fast ened, belongs to the realty ; Kansas City Southern R. Co. v. Anderson, 88 Ark. 129, 113 S. W. 1030, 16 Ann. Cas. 784 ; lace looms bolted to the floor and fastened by iron stays to the roof ; 5 F. Ct. Sess. 214 ;. electric light fittings in a hotel ; Canning v. Owen, 22 R: I. 624, 48 Atl. 1033, 84 Am. St. Rep. 858 ; and metallic gutters attached to the roof of a house with water pipes laid under ground ; Wright v. Du Bignon, 114 Ga. 765, 40 S. E. 747, 57 L. R. A. 669.
2d, by constructive annexation. Some things have been held to be parcel of the realty, which are annexed or fastened to it ; for example, deeds or chattels which relate to the title of the inheritance and go to the heir ; Shep. Touch. 469; Beardsley v. Bank, 31 Barb. (N. Y.) 632 ; Wadleigh v. Janvrin, 41 N. H. 503, 77 Am. Dec. 780. Cars used in connection with a drier in a brickyard, and which are indispensable to the use of the drier, are part of the realty, and a mechan ic's lien will attach thereto ; Curran v. Smith, 37 Ill. App. 69. So wires and insulators used in forming and completing the connection be tween an electric light and power plant and the places supplied with light and heat by such plant ; Hughes v. Power Co., 53 N. J. Eq. 435, 32 Atl. 69 ; Badger Lumber Co. v. Light & Power Co., 48 Kan. 182, 29 Pac. 476, 15 L. R. A. 652, 30 Am. St. Rep. 301; gas burners, chandeliers, and the like ; Keeler v. Keeler, 31 N. J. Eq. 181; Johnson's Ex'r v. Wiseman's Ex'r, 4 Mete. (Ky.) 357, 83 Am. Dec. 475 ; 18 L. T. N. S. 300.