Given v. Kelly
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Armstrong county: Of October and November Term, 1877, No. 86. Trover, by John J. Kelly and others, against George Given, to recover from defendant one-fourth of the value of a boiler, engine and the machinery of an oil-well. Defendant pleaded the general issue.
Read the full summary
Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Armstrong county: Of October and November Term, 1877, No. 86. Trover, by John J. Kelly and others, against George Given, to recover from defendant one-fourth of the value of a boiler, engine and the machinery of an oil-well. Defendant pleaded the general issue. In 1870 a company was formed to put down an oil-well, the stock in which was limited to sixteen shares, of which at the time of this suit the plaintiffs owned four shares, and the defendant the remainder. The well did not prove a success, and the defendant, who had been in possession and control of…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Mercur
The right of a party to maintain trover depends on his ability to establish his right of possession against the defendant in the action. Where the defendant is a joint owner with him of a chattel, the right of each to the possession is equal, and therefore for the mere detention by one joint owner the action cannot be sustained. Nor can it be sustained against the vendor for a mere sale of a chattel in which he was a joint owner, for such a sale passes to the vendee the individual interest only of the vendor. This rule, however, should be restricted to cases in which the property remains in…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Wilson v. ReedNew York Supreme Court · 1808
3Cited by2 opinions
- Stitt v. FeltonSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1939
- Johnson's Administrator v. WhitesideSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1922