MORTGAGE

An estate created by.a -conveyance absolute in its form, but intended to secure the performance of some act, such as the payment of money, and the like, by the.grantor or some other person, and to become void if the act is performed agreeably to the terms prescribed at the time of making such conveyance. 1· Washb. Real Prop. *475. A conditional conveyance of land, designed as a security for the payment of money, the fulfillment of some contract, or the performance of some act, and to be void upon such payment, fulfillment, or performance. Mit-. chell v. Burnham, 44 Me. 299. A debt by specialty, secured by a pledge of lands, ol which the legal ownership is vested in the creditor, but of which, in equity, the debtor and those claiming under him remain the actual owners, until debarred by judicial sentence or their own laches. Coote, Mortg. 1. The foregoing definitions are applicable to the common-law conception of a mortgage. But in many states in modern times, it is regarded as a mere lien, and not as creating a title or estate. It is a pledge or security of particular property for the payment of a -debt or the performance of some other obll- [s. 799]