Definition
A general lien is the right of a person in lawful possession of another's property to retain that property as security not merely for debts arising from the particular transaction involving that property, but for any balance due on a running or general account between the parties in the same line of business. It is the broader of the two foundational lien types, distinguished from a particular (or specific) lien, which secures only the debt directly connected to the specific item held.
A general lien does not arise automatically from the act of possession. Because it expands the creditor's security interest beyond the natural transaction, courts treat it as an exception to the common law default rule and require that it be grounded in express contract, implied contract, or a well-established trade usage or custom demonstrable from the course of dealing between the parties.
Common holders of general liens include attorneys (over client papers and funds for fees owed generally), bankers (over securities and funds deposited by a customer), factors (over goods consigned for any balance on the general account), and stockbrokers (over securities held for a client). Whether a particular trade or profession carries a general lien by custom is a question of fact determined by evidence of established usage.
Common Confusion
GENERAL LIEN vs. PARTICULAR LIEN (SPECIFIC LIEN): These two categories exhaust the common law lien framework and are routinely contrasted. A particular lien — the common law default — entitles the holder to retain only the specific item in connection with which the debt arose. A blacksmith who shoes a horse may hold that horse until the shoeing fee is paid, but not until some other, older debt is satisfied. A general lien sweeps further: the holder may retain any property in their possession until the entire general account balance is cleared. Researchers encountering "lien" in historical sources without a qualifying adjective should determine from context which type is intended, as the legal consequences differ substantially.
Why It Matters in Research
The primary research trap with general lien is the sourcing of its existence. Courts and treatises are consistent that a general lien cannot be assumed — it must be proven through contract or custom. Historical sources may treat the general liens of bankers, factors, and attorneys as established by usage, but the same sources caution that extension of a general lien to new trades or relationships requires independent proof. Researchers working with nineteenth-century commercial disputes should be alert to the evidentiary standard: a mere course of dealing between two parties is generally insufficient; the usage must be general to the trade.
The lien's dependence on lawful possession is a second critical point. A general lien is extinguished when possession is voluntarily surrendered. Historical cases frequently turned on whether the creditor's relinquishment of the property was voluntary or compelled, and whether a partial delivery severed the lien as to the remainder. These fact-specific possession questions generate substantial case law that does not always surface under "general lien" as a search term — researchers should also search possession, bailment, and the specific trade involved.
Jurisdictional evolution matters here. Statutory liens in modern law have displaced or modified common law general liens in many commercial contexts, particularly for attorneys and factors. A researcher moving from historical to modern sources must verify whether the general lien recognized by a nineteenth-century treatise survives in the relevant jurisdiction as a common law right or has been superseded by statute, codified, or abolished.
The term also appears in secured transactions scholarship in tension with Article 9 of the UCC, which governs most consensual security interests in personal property. A possessory lien arising by operation of law or custom may or may not fall within Article 9's scope depending on its character — another reason to track the lien's origin carefully when researching modern contexts.
Historical Dictionary Support
The four source dictionaries are in close agreement on the core definition. Bouvier and Burrill are nearly identical in formulation, grounding the general lien in the bailee's right to retain possession pending payment of the general account balance — not merely debts tied to the specific chattel. Black's and Rapalje & Lawrence add the critical qualifier that a general lien, being against the ordinary rule of law, depends entirely upon contract, express or implied, or special usage of dealing between the parties. This caveat is the doctrinal center of gravity and distinguishes general lien from particular lien in practical litigation.
Burrill's citation to Stephens' Commentaries (2 Steph. Com. 132) points researchers to mid-nineteenth-century English treatise authority that shaped American reception of the doctrine. The historical dictionaries do not address the interaction of general liens with statutory schemes or secured transactions law — that analytical gap reflects the period of composition and should not mislead modern researchers into treating the common law framework as the complete current picture.
None of the source dictionaries catalog the specific trades and professions recognized as holding general liens by custom, an omission that can leave researchers needing to consult treatises on bailment or commercial law directly for that inventory.
Jurisdictional Note
General liens recognized by trade custom vary by jurisdiction. The attorney's general lien over client papers and funds, and the banker's general lien over deposited securities, are broadly recognized across common law jurisdictions, but their scope and limitations differ. Some states have codified aspects of attorney liens by statute in ways that may expand or restrict the common law rule. Researchers should not assume a general lien recognized in English authority or one American jurisdiction translates unchanged to another.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Personal Property -- Liens on Personal Property (Artisan's Lien, Statutory Liens) (The Law Mind Property Law Encyclopedia)