Trover

I. fr.

In old English law. To find. pledges. Trover suerte de sner: to find

An action on the case to recover had II., and covering most unintentional -wrong, negligence, Trespass' as distinct from B. de uzore abducto, quod consortivim amisit, titles. from the beginning; a term relate back so as to make a unlawful; as if he enter peacebreach of the peace, his entry begins at the joinder of issue, that part of an action judgment and ended with ordeal, and the like. Now which takes place in court. ordeal, record, certificate, in' Triatio ibi semper debet possunt habere notitiam: the jury can have the best selected by the court to try As soon as two good jurytriers ceases, and the juryv. Paine fort et dure. June 12. necessity.) The threefold castles, and service to reall lands were liable. surrejoinder. In the canon the value of goods, brought converting

The name of that form of action among the common-law forms which was appropriate for recovering damages to compensate a plaintiff for loss of property through a wrongful conversion. It proceeds upon the supposition, which, however, is in general a mere fiction, that the defendant found the goods in question, and converted them to his own use. This conversion is the true gist of the action, and for this the plaintiff claims damages. In substance, therefore, the action is a remedy to recover the value of personal chattels wrongfully converted by another to his own use. The form supposes that the plaintiff was the lawful owner of the goods, either in virtue of a general or special property in them; that he was entitled to possession; yet the defendant came into possession of them — as, for instance, by finding them, — and that the defendant then wrongfully converted them to his own use. The action is only appropriate when these general facts exist, except that no literal finding need be shown; and it seeks only a recovery of damages, not of possession. The action was originally an action of trespass on the case for recovery of damages against such person as had actually found another's goods, and refused to deliver them, on demand, but converted them to his own use; from which finding and converting it is called an action of trover and conversion. The freedom of this action from wager of law, and the less degree of certainty requisite in describing the goods, gave it so considerable an advantage over the action of detinue, that, by a fiction of law, actions of trover were at length permitted to be brought against any man who had in his possession, by any means whatsoever, the personal goods of another, and sold them or used them without the consent of the owner, or refused to deliver them when demanded. The injury lies in the conversion; for any man may take the goods of another into possession if he finds them; but no finder is allowed to acquire a property therein, unless the owner be for ever unknown; and, therefore, he must not convert them to his own use, which the law presumes him to do if he refuses to restore them to the owner; for which reason, such refusal alone is, prima facie, sufficient evidence of a conversion. The fact of the finding or trover is, therefore, now totally immaterial; for the plaintiff needs only to suggest (as words of form) that he lost such goods, and that the defendant found them; and if he proves that the goods are his property, and that the defendant had them in his possession, it is sufficient. But a conversion must be fully proved; and then, in this action, the plaintiff shall recover damages equal to the value of the goods. (3 Bl. Com., ch. 9.) Jacob. In trover, the plaintiff cannot recover the specific chattel, but only damages for its conversion. The fictitious suggestion of the "finding" was abolished by the common-law procedure act, 1852, by which a simple form of declaration was introduced for such cases. Mozley & W.