REPLEVIN

An action to recover personal property said or claimed to be unlawfully taken. 2) The

writ or procedure of such an action.
It will be proper to consider, 1. For what property this action will lie. 2. hat interest the
plaintiff must have in the same. !. For what in"ury. #. The pleadin$s. %. The "ud$ment.
& 1. To support replevin, the property affected must be a personal chattel, and not an
in"ury to the freehold, or to any matter which is anne'ed to it nor for anythin$ which has
been turned into a chattel by havin$ been separated from it by the defendant, and carried
away at one and the same time nor for writin$s which concern the realty. 1 (rownl. 1)*.
The chattel also must possess indicia or ear&marks, by which it may be distin$uished
from all others of the same description+ otherwise the plaintiff would be demandin$ of the
law what it has not in its power to bestow+ replevin for loose money cannot, therefore, be
maintained+ but it may be supported for money tied up in a ba$, and taken in that state
from the plaintiff.
& 2. The plaintiff, at the time of the caption, must have been possessed, or, which
amounts to the same thin$, have had an absolute property in and be entitled to the
possession of the chattel, or it could not have been taken from him. ,e must, in other
words, have had a $eneral property, or a special property, as the bailee of the $oods. ,is
ri$ht to the possession must also be continued down to the time of "ud$ment pronounced,
otherwise he has no claim to the restoration of the property. It has however, been doubted
whether on a more naked tailment for safe keeping, the bailee can maintain replevin.
& !. This action lies to recover any $oods which have been ille$ally taken. The primary
obect of this action, is to recover back the chattel itself, and dama$es for takin$ and
detainin$ it are conse-uent on the recovery. hen the property has been restored this
action cannot, therefore, be maintained. (ut the chattel is considered as detained, not
withstandin$ the defendant may have destroyed it before the suit was commenced+ for he
cannot take advanta$e of his own wron$.
& #. This bein$ a local action, the declaration re-uires certainty in the description of the
place where the distress was taken. (ut it has been held in .ennsylvania, that the
declaration is sufficient, if the taking is laid to be in the county! The strictness which
formerly prevailed on this sub"ect, has been rela'ed. hen the distress has been taken for
rent, the defendant usually avows or makes co$ni/ance, in order to obtain a return of the
$oods to which avowry or co$ni/ance the plaintiff pleads in bar, or the defendant may, in
proper cases, plead non cepit, cepit in alio loco, $uilty.