What is "chattel mortgage"

Mortgage \Mort"gage\ (m[^o]r"g[asl]j; 48), n. [F. mort-gage; mort dead (L. mortuus) + gage pledge. See Mortal, and Gage.]

1. (Law) A conveyance of property, upon condition, as security for the payment of a debt or the preformance of a duty, and to become void upon payment or performance according to the stipulated terms; also, the written instrument by which the conveyance is made.

   Note: It was called a mortgage (or dead pledge) because, whatever profit it might yield, it did not thereby redeem itself, but became lost or dead to the mortgager upon breach of the condition. But in equity a right of redemption is an inseparable incident of a mortgage until the mortgager is debarred by his own laches, or by judicial decree.
   --Cowell.
   --Kent.

2. State of being pledged; as, lands given in mortgage.

   Chattel mortgage. See under Chattel.

   To foreclose a mortgage. See under Foreclose.

   Mortgage deed (Law), a deed given by way of mortgage.

Chattel \Chat"tel\, n. [OF. chatel; another form of catel. See Cattle.] (Law) Any item of movable or immovable property except the freehold, or the things which are parcel of it. It is a more extensive term than goods or effects.

Note: Chattels are personal or real: personal are such as are movable, as goods, plate, money; real are such rights in land as are less than a freehold, as leases, mortgages, growing corn, etc.

Chattel mortgage (Law), a mortgage on personal property, as distinguished from one on real property.

n. a loan to buy some personal item; the item (or chattel) is security for the loan

Chattel mortgage, sometimes abbreviated CM, is the legal term for a type of loan contract used in some states with legal systems derived from English law.

Under a typical chattel mortgage, the purchaser borrows funds for the purchase of movable personal property (the chattel) from the lender. The lender then secures the loan with a mortgage over the chattel. Legal ownership of the chattel is transferred to the purchaser at the time of purchase, and the mortgage is removed once the loan has been repaid.

Chattel mortgages may have more particular characteristics in different jurisdictions.