Key Takeaways

  • Trover definition: Trover is a common law action to recover damages for the wrongful conversion of personal property.
  • Scope of property: It applies to personal chattels, including documents and reclaimed animals, but not to property under legal custody or requiring specialized jurisdiction.
  • Conversion types: Conversion may occur through wrongful taking, misuse, or unlawful detention of property.
  • Plaintiff’s rights: The plaintiff must show either actual possession or the right to immediate possession at the time of conversion.
  • Damages awarded: Courts generally award the fair market value of the property at the time of conversion, plus interest.

TROVER

Trover signifies finding. The remedy is called an action of trover; it is brought to recover the value of personal chattels, wrongfully converted by another to his own use; the form supposed that the defendant might have acquired the possession of the property lawfully, namely, by finding, but if he did not, by bringing the action the plaintiff waives the trespass; no damages can therefore be recovered for the taking, all must be for the conversion.

Historical Origins of Trover

The term "trover," meaning "to find," originated in English common law. Historically, plaintiffs would allege that the defendant had found and wrongfully converted their property. While modern courts rarely use the action of trover by name, its principles survive in the broader tort of conversion. Trover provided a flexible way to recover damages when personal property was misused, and over time, it shaped much of American property law.

Trover Considerations

It will be proper to consider the subject with reference, 1. To the thing converted. 2. The plaintiff's right. 3. The nature of the injury. 4. The pleadings. 5. The verdict and judgment.

The property affected must be some personal chattel and it has been decided that trover lies for title deeds and for a copy of a record. Trover will be sustained for animals ferae naturae, reclaimed. Action upon the case of Trover and Conversion. But trover will not lie for personal property in the custody of the law, nor when the title to the property can be settled only by a peculiar jurisdiction; as, for example, property taken on the high seas, and claimed as lawful prize, because in such case, the courts of admiralty have exclusive jurisdiction. Nor will it lie where the property bailed has been lost by the bailee, or stolen from him, or been destroyed by accident or from negligence case is the proper remedy.

Elements of a Trover Claim

To succeed in an action of trover, a plaintiff traditionally had to establish:

  1. Ownership or right to possession of the property.
  2. Wrongful act of conversion by the defendant.
  3. Damages equal to the property’s fair value at the time of conversion.

Trover did not allow for recovery of the specific property itself; instead, it awarded the property’s value in money damages. This distinguished trover from replevin, which sought the return of the actual item.

Possession

-2. The plaintiff must at the time of the conversion have had a property in the chattel either general or special he must also have had actual possession or right to immediate possession. The person who has the absolute or general property in a personal chattel may support this action, although he has never had possession, for it is a rule that the general property of personal chattels creates a constructive possession. One who has a special property, which consists in the lawful custody of goods with a right of detention against the general owner, may maintain trover.

Trover vs. Other Remedies

Trover was often contrasted with other remedies:

  • Replevin: Allowed recovery of the specific property, not just its value.
  • Detinue: Focused on wrongful detention of goods.
  • Trespass: Addressed the wrongful taking itself, not the subsequent use or conversion.

Trover’s value lay in its flexibility. Even if a defendant lawfully obtained possession (for example, by borrowing), once they wrongfully refused to return or misused the property, trover became the appropriate remedy.

Illegal Use, Misuse, and Assumption

There must have been a conversion, which may have been effected, 1st. By the wrongful taking of a personal chattel. 2d. By some other illegal assumption of ownership, or by illegally using or misusing it; or, 3d. By a wrongful detention.

The declaration should state that the plaintiff Was possessed of the goods (describing them) as of his own property, and that they came to the defendant's possession by finding; and the conversion should be properly averred, as that is the gist of the action. It is not indispensable to state the price or value of the thing converted. The usual plea is not guilty, which is the general issue.

The verdict should be for the damages sustained, and the measure of such damages is the value of the property at the time of the conversion, with interest. The judgment, when for the plaintiff, is that he recover his damages and costs when for the defendant, the judgment is that he recover his costs.

Modern Relevance of Trover

Although the formal action of trover has been largely abolished, its principles remain central in modern tort law. Today, courts recognize the broader cause of action called conversion, which carries forward trover’s function of compensating property owners for wrongful interference with personal property. In many jurisdictions, references to trover still appear in older statutes and case law, making an understanding of its history useful for lawyers and litigants.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is the trover definition in simple terms?
    Trover is a legal action to recover damages when someone wrongfully converts another person’s personal property to their own use.
  2. How does trover differ from conversion?
    Trover is the historical form of action, while conversion is the modern tort that absorbed its principles.
  3. Can trover recover the property itself?
    No. Trover provided monetary damages equal to the property’s value, not return of the property.
  4. Is trover still used today?
    The formal action of trover is obsolete, but its concepts survive in conversion claims under modern tort law.
  5. What types of property are covered under trover?
    Trover applied to personal chattels like goods, animals, and documents, but not to property under court custody or requiring specialized jurisdiction.

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