Fisher v. Steward
Superior Court of New Hampshire
Trover for a swarm of bees. There was a second count for two hundred pounds of honey in the comb. The case was, the plaintiffs found a swarm of bees in a tree on the [defendant’s] land in Claremont, marked the tree, and notified the defendant, who cut down the tree, September, 1803, and converted the honey to his own use.
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Trover for a swarm of bees. There was a second count for two hundred pounds of honey in the comb. The case was, the plaintiffs found a swarm of bees in a tree on the [defendant’s] land in Claremont, marked the tree, and notified the defendant, who cut down the tree, September, 1803, and converted the honey to his own use. Plea: the general issue. ■ At the trial there was some dispute whether the plaintiffs or one of the defendant’s family first discovered the bees, and whether the plaintiffs gave notice of .the finding and marking the tree. The other parts of the case were proved.
1Opinion of the Court
The Court
summed up, and observed that two questions had been' made on the trial: first, whether the plaintiffs first discovered the bees; and, secondly, supposing they did, whether the property of the honey was in them.
The first is a question of evidence proper for the consideration of the jury.
The second is a question of law, and one about which the Court entertain no doubt. The plaintiffs do not pretend to have any property in the land or in the tree, nor had they any property in the bees. How then came they by a property in the honey ? It must have been by occupancy. But how did they…
2Cases cited7 opinions
- Pierson v. PostNew York Supreme Court · 1805
- Wallis v. MeaseSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1811
- Goff v. KiltsNew York Supreme Court · 1836
- Gillet v. MasonNew York Supreme Court · 1810
- Ferguson v. MillerNew York Supreme Court · 1823
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