Brown v. Sims
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Replevin by Josiah Brown and others, against Joseph Sims and John M‘Masters, for twenty-six hogsheads of tobacco. The defendant iSims, avowed, and the defendant M( Masters, made cognisance of the taking, as a distress for rent of certain warehouses and stores in the city of Philadelphia, due by one Joseph Lea, the same being found on the.premises.
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Replevin by Josiah Brown and others, against Joseph Sims and John M‘Masters, for twenty-six hogsheads of tobacco. The defendant iSims, avowed, and the defendant M( Masters, made cognisance of the taking, as a distress for rent of certain warehouses and stores in the city of Philadelphia, due by one Joseph Lea, the same being found on the.premises. The plaintiffs pleaded no rent in arrear; and for further plea, that they, the said plaintiffs were then,- to wit, at Philadelphia, in the county, aforesaid, commission merchants and factors, and carried on the business of commission merchants and…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion bf the court was delivered by
Gibson, C. J.
The right to distrain the property of a stranger, rests on no principle of reason or justice. It is a feudal prerogative, handed down from times when chattels were of little account, and when it may have been impolitic, if not unreasonable, to embarrass the lord with responsibility to one who had thrust jiis property in the way of the remedy to compel a performance of the services. But commerce which wrought a change in the habits and pursuits of men, and gave an importance to personal transactions, necessarily produced a relaxation of the…
2Cited by3 opinions
- Connah v. HaleNew York Supreme Court · 1840
- McCreery v. ClafflinCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1873
- Riddle v. WeldenSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1839