Forster v. Juniata Bridge Co.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Common Pleas of Dauphin county. This was an action of trover and conversion, brought on the 9th of August 1847, by the Juniata Bridge Company against John Forster, who resided in Harrisburg, for the recovery of a portion of the timber and other materials of one span of a bridge that was swept off by the great flood in March 1846, and lodged on the upper end of the island of the defendant opposite to Harrisburg.
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Error to the Common Pleas of Dauphin county. This was an action of trover and conversion, brought on the 9th of August 1847, by the Juniata Bridge Company against John Forster, who resided in Harrisburg, for the recovery of a portion of the timber and other materials of one span of a bridge that was swept off by the great flood in March 1846, and lodged on the upper end of the island of the defendant opposite to Harrisburg. That portion of the bridge for which suit was brought, lodged on the island of General Forster in the night of the 14th or morning of the 15th March 1846, and, by its…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered June 30, by
Gibson, O. J.
It is not pretended the company had lost its title to this fragment of its bridge by the lodgment of it on the defendant’s island. A boat, or a raft, or an ox, driven on it by the current, would continue to be the property of him who owned it at the time of the flood; and why not any other sort of property? Even driftwood, if it could be identified, might be reclaimed. Rails frequently are. The common as well as the civil law allows the owner of stranded property to enter and take it away. Mr. Justice Story says truly, that if…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- President for erecting a Bridge over the River Lehigh v. Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1833
3Cited by5 opinions
- Martin v. PhiladelphiaSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1913
- McKeesport Sawmill Co. v. Pennsylvania Co.U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western Pennsylvania · 1903
- Dalling v. WeinsteinPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas · 1939
- Dalling v. WeinsteinConnecticut Superior Court · 1939
- Lugar v. Parker, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Delaware County1930