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3 Wend. 406

Tomkins v. Haile

New York Supreme Court

Decided October 15, 1829

New York Supreme Court · decided 1829-10-15

This was an action of trover, tried at St. Lawrence circuit February, 1829, before the Hon. Esek Cowen, one of the circuit judges. The action was brought for thé recovery of damages for the taking of a horse, waggon and harness. The plaintiff proved that he was the owner of the property, and continuec] jn the possession of it, in the county of Onondaga, until the spring of 1827.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1829-10-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently July 1902

7 state decisions

40182918301840185018601870188018901900decided

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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¶1By the Court,

Marcy, J.

¶2The defendant attempted to shew that Stevens was in fact the owner of the property, by proving that he had possession of it when it was levied on, had loaned it, and offered to sell or exchange it. This evidence would not, I think, have warranted the jury to find that there had been a change of property. How long Ste-*408yens had been in possession does not appear; but it could not jlave been long. No acquiescence of the plaintiff in the possession of Stevens, nor any recognition of his right to possess ^ was shewn' We cannot, therefore, say that the judge erred in regarding these facts as amounting to no proof of property in Stevens.

¶3There is scarcely a pretence to question the conversion. The constable acted under the express direction of the defendant in seising and selling the property, and his acts are in law the acts of the defendant. In this respect there is an' essential difference between this case and that of Storm v. Livingston (6 Johns. R. 44.) The sale here was an actual conversion by the defendant.

¶4Motion for a new trial denied.

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