Replevin

At Common Law. A form of action which lay to regain the possession of personal chattels taken from the plaintiff unlavirfu Uy. It differs from "detinue" in this, that it requires an unlawful taking as the foundation of the action; and from all other personal actions in that it is brought to recover the possession of the specific property claimed to have been unlawfully taken. In the United States. By statutes in nearly all the states, the actions of re-, plevin and detinue have been merged, the action being usually called "replevin," but sometimes "claim and delivery," so that such action lies for either the unlawful taking or the unlawful detention of property, i. e., either in the cepit or the detinet,