§667-3 Proceeds, how applied. Mortgage creditors shall be entitled to payment according to the priority of their liens, and not pro rata; and judgments of foreclosure shall operate to extinguish the liens of subsequent mortgages of the same property, without forcing prior mortgagees to their right of recovery. The surplus after payment of the mortgage foreclosed, shall be applied pro tanto to the next junior mortgage, and so on to the payment, wholly or in part, of mortgages junior to the one assessed. [CC 1859, §1233; RL 1925, §2889; RL 1935, §4722; RL 1945, §12422; RL 1955, §336-3; HRS §667-3; am L 1972, c 90, §9(c)]