Read more
Excerpt from The Revised Reports, Vol. 73: Being a Republication of Such Cases in the English Courts of Common Law and Equity, From the Year 1785, as Are Still of Practical Utility; 1846-1848
It is rather difficult to understand how any one could maintain after Clements v. Flight, p. 421, that the action of detinue was founded on contract; for it is distinctly laid down (at p. 428) that the gist of the action is neither a real nor a fictitious bailment, but the fact of adversely detaining the plaintiff's goods. But the doubt continued until it was settled by the Court of Appeal in 1878. No doubt the wholly unhistorical assumption that all actions relating to personal property must be in either contract or tort had much to do with the dificulty. Farina v. Home, p. 433, is a profitable decision upon the necessity of attornment by the vendor's bailee (the term was introduced with a sort of apology, but is now current and found convenient) to perfect a constructive delivery of goods to the purchaser. Pott v. Clegg, p. 51 7, afiords neat and concise authority on the relation between banker and customer. In Hankinson v. Billy, at p. 566, we have one of the plain and sensible maxims of the law which formalists are always trying to suppress, and which have to be te-stated from time to time Words uttered must be construed in the sense which hearers of common and reasonable understanding would ascribe to them.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
