The present law of mortgage is the joint product of the ancient common law, the intermediate equity and the modern statute (n). It is of importance to discuss many of the principles of the law of mortgage from the historical point of view, and to consider, firstly, what the common law was, secondly, how equitable doctrines were grafted on the common law, and, thirdly, how both law and equity have been modified by statute. One method of treating the subject is to state the whole law of mortgage from the point of view of the common law, then to state the result of the application of equitable principles, and finally to state the changes effected by statute. This method would have the advantage that it would emphasize the historical development of the law of mortgage, but it would suffer from the disadvantage that some topics would have to be discussed piecemeal. In a book which is intended for the use of the practitioner as well as for that of the student, it has seemed more convenient to adopt a compromise. In the early chapters some fundamental principles of the law of mortgage are discussed with special reference to the rules of the common law, the doctrines of equity and statutory changes respectively. This treatment of the subject will, it is hoped, afford a sufficient historical introduction. In the later portions of the book the arrangement of the chapters is strictly according to subject matter, but at the same time the three-fold origin of the law is not overlooked in the discussion of the several topics. At the end of the book are grouped various topics with regard to which the rules are chiefly of statutory or contractual origin.

(h) Balfe v. Lord, supra.

(i) Talbot v. Braddil, 1688, 1 Vera. 394. This is a Welsh mortgage strictly so called. 21 Halsbury, Laws of England, p. 88.

(j) Teulon v. Curtis, supra.

(k) See chapter 26, Limitation of Actions, Sec. 277.

(l) Fenwick v. Reed, 1816, 1 Mer. 114, at p. 125; Orde v. Heming, 1686, 1 Vera. 418; Re Yarmouth, 1879, 26 Gr. 593; In re Cronin, [1914] 1 I.R. 23.

(m) Balfe v. Lord, supra; Longuet v. Scawen, 1750, 1 Ves. Sen. 402, at p. 406; In re Cronin, [1914] 1 I.R. 23, at p. 29.

(n) Strahan, Law of Mortgages, 2nd ed., p. 1. The three-fold origin of the law of mortgage is made the basis of Strahan's division of the subject under the headings Mortgages at Common Law, Mortgages in Equity, Mortgages under Statute, Actions for Redemption and Actions for Foreclosure. The discussion, in the book just cited, of the matters which fall under the first two headings has suggested some features of the arrangement adopted in the early portion of the present book, but in other respects, for reasons stated in the text, I have adopted a different method of subdividing the main part of the subject.