Odger's English Common Law

Chapter V.
TRESPASS TO GOODS, DETINUE AND CONVERSION.
"We now turn to personal property. Our law provides
several different methods of vindicating the right of posses-
sion. In this chapter we propose to deal with five separate
causes of action :—Trespass to Goods, Detinue, Eeplevin,
"Wrongful Distress and Conversion. These can perhaps best
be illustrated by preliminary examples.
Let us suppose that A. is in lawful possession of goods.
It does not matter whether he is the true owner, or whether
he is in possession of them with the consent of the true
owner. All that is necessary is that he should be entitled to
the immediate possession of them.
Next, suppose that B. wrongfully seizes those goods and
or that in some other way
takes them out of A.'s possession ;
he personally applies direct force to the goods. It does not
matter whether such wrongful force damages the goods or
not ; for B. had no right to touch them at all. The mere
infringement of A.'s right of possession entitles him to
recover some damages from B. If B. seized the goods or
caused them to be seized in any open or notorious manner,
so as to injure A.'s reputation or so as to cast doubt on A.'s
right to the possession of the goods, a larger amount of
damages may properly be awarded
—
e.g., if B. distrained them
for rent which was not due, his act will clearly cast doubt
on A.'s solvency. If in removing the goods B. breaks or
injures them, the amount of damages which he must pay
will be still further increased. This is A.'s first cause of
action—viz., trespass to goods.
Next, let us assume that B. removes the goods to some
premises of his own, and keeps them there without A.'s