Hastings v. Lankford
Superior Court of Delaware
Action of Trespass de Bonis Asportatis (No. 29, June Term, 1913) to recover for the value of a horse alleged to be the property of the estate of Charles G. Calloway, deceased, which horse it was contended the defendant wrongfully appropriated to his own use. Among the pleas filed was a special plea alleging property in the defendant. Counsel for the plaintiff moved to strike out the special plea of property in the defendant, as amounting to the general issue. Motion granted.
1Opinion of the Court
Woolley, J.,
delivering the opinion of the court:
The special plea, to which the plaintiffs’ motion is addressed, is a special plea of property in the defendant himself, and was filed, as contended by his counsel, upon the authority of Covington v. Simpson, 3 Penn. 269, 274, 277, 52 Atl. 349, in which the court held that in such an action as this, the defendant may con*491trovert the possession and title of the plaintiff under the general issue, but cannot prove ownership in “some one else” to justify the trespass, unless such justification be specially pleaded,
A plea of property in the defendant,…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Covington v. SimpsonSuperior Court of Delaware · 1901