What’s a mortgage note? [OT]

I don't have one and wondered, what’s a mortgage note? A union website via Generation Bubble has a clear explanation:

"A mortgage note is the document you signed when you purchased your home loan. Mortgages contain lots of paperwork – but only the original mortgage note with your signature is proof that you owe the debt. That’s why banks need the note to prove that they own the loan and can collect payments from you. The problem is, banks now buy and sell mortgages up and down Wall Street – slicing them up and repackaging them to sell to other banks. The bank you bought your mortgage from two years ago may not be the bank that owns it today. But, in all the shuffle, the mortgage notes often don’t get transferred along with your debt."

Maybe there'll be a return to dark age European legal procedure like trial by combat or trial by ordeal, methods prior to the development of common law by Crusader and Norman influence of Roman and Sicilian Islamic law (shariah law!).

There's more on the many irregularities around "Foreclosuregate" on The Dylan Ratigan Show (Oct 7, 13, 15, etc) and The Daily Show (1st segment Oct 7):

Update: on Oct 20 Democracy Now hosted Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz, Foreclosure Moratorium, Government Stimulus Needed to Revive US Economy. Also, see What Happened to Change We Can Believe In? by Frank Rich.

Later on Salon, Andrew Leonard has much of What you need to know about the foreclosure mess: One side accuses banks and their robo-signers for fraud; the other blames deadbeat borrowers. Who's right?, plus Truthout features Foreclosuregate Explained: Big Banks on the Brink ... of bankruptcy.