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143 Mass. 108

Cooper v. Johnson

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided November 24, 1886

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1886-11-24

Replevin of the following articles, among others: three kettles, one upright tubular boiler of twenty horse-power, one iron tank, and one platform scale.

Relies on Carpenter v. Walker · Hubbell v. East Cambridge Five Cents Savings Bank

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1886-11-24

How this case has been cited

Cited by 9 later decisions — most recently May 1938

9 state decisions

40188618901900191019201930decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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C. Allen, J.

¶1There was no contradictory evidence, and it is assumed by both parties that the facts testified to by the plaintiff’s witnesses are true. It thus appears that the boiler and tank were placed in the building by Winslow and Company, who were tenants at will. Whether their tenancy had ended or not, is not mentioned in the bill of exceptions. The boiler was placed on a foundation of brickwork and cement, the edges of the brickwork being cemented before the boiler was placed thereon, to keep it tight, that is, in place. The tank was similarly placed. It is apparent that these articles could be used equally well elsewhere, and that the fastening, such as it was, was merely to keep them in place. They were easily removable. There is nothing to show that the defendant contended at the trial that a reasonable time for their removal had expired, and no such question is presented by the bill of exceptions. The boiler and tank remained personal property, and indeed were so treated by the defendant and the owners of the building in making the attachment. Hubbell v. East Cambridge Savings Bank, 132 Mass. 447. Carpenter v. Walker, 140 Mass. 416.

¶2Exceptions overruled.

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