Blakey v. Douglass
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
October Term 1886, No. 192, W. D. Error to tbe Common Pleas of Oambria County to review a judgment on a verdict directed for defendants in an action of trover and conversion. This action was brought by Mildred Blakey and Elizabeth, his wife, in tire right of the wife, to recover the value of a portable steam sawmill.
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October Term 1886, No. 192, W. D. Error to tbe Common Pleas of Oambria County to review a judgment on a verdict directed for defendants in an action of trover and conversion. This action was brought by Mildred Blakey and Elizabeth, his wife, in tire right of the wife, to recover the value of a portable steam sawmill. Blakey & Bhinc, former employees of the Pittsburgh Eurnace Company, entered into a partnership arrangement and purchased the mill in question from the Pittsburgh Eurnace Company, agreeing to pay for it in lumber. They shipped it to the land of the beneficial plaintiff in Penn Bun…
1Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Mr. Justice Sterrett:
The action of trover is grounded on the legal fiction of finding X>ersonal property casually lost by the owner, and subsequent conversion of the same by the finder to Ms own use or the use of *499another. As was said by Lord Mansfield : “In form it is a fiction; in substance it is a remedy to recover the value of personal chattels wrongfully converted by another to his own use.” 1 Chitty, Pl. 162.
The gist of the action is Hie wrongful conversion. On trial of the general issue, it is incumbent on the plaintiff to prove that before and at the time of conversion he had…
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