Conley v. Barton

Background

A homeowner who had given a mortgage in 1905 sued to redeem the property after the mortgage holder took possession in 1919 to foreclose. The mortgage had a one-year foreclosure clause. A 1917 Maine law required the mortgagee or holder to record a signed affidavit within three months after one year of possession to make the foreclosure valid. The state trial court and the Maine Supreme Judicial Court applied the 1917 law to this older mortgage and held it valid.

Reasoning

The Supreme Court considered whether the 1917 law could apply to mortgages made before the law and whether the law improperly impaired the mortgage contract. The Court treated the statute as a regulation of the remedy for enforcing the mortgage, not as a change to the core contract. Because the law simply imposed an easy condition — filing an affidavit within three months after the year ended — and a substantial, effective remedy remained, the statute did not weaken the contract’s essential value. The Court therefore affirmed the state courts’ judgment that the law applies and is constitutional.

Real world impact

Mortgage owners must record the required affidavit within the stated three-month window to make a possession-based foreclosure final. Homeowners gain a concrete protection: failure to meet the filing requirement can keep the right to redeem the property. The decision applies to older mortgages with a one-year foreclosure clause and upholds the State’s power to set procedural rules for foreclosures.