notice of the true owner, surrenders them to the person from whom he received them, he will not be liable for conversion. And if, after notice of the true ownership, he surrenders possession upon demand to the owner, he will not be held liable either to the owner or the person from whom he received them.

§ 504. Demand for possession.-It is a general rule that where one has obtained possession of goods by force or fraud, it is not necessary to demand possession from the wrong-doer before bringing suit; and when the possession was originally rightful, but there has been such abuse or excess of authority that the whole becomes wrongful from the first, no demand need be made. If, however, one has rightful possession and does not deny the owner's title, it is essential in order to maintain the action that a demand shall have been made for possession, and a refusal to deliver. Such demand and refusal need not be express; they may be implied from conduct. An attempt to take the property is usually a sufficient demand, and opposing the attempt is a sufficient refusal.

§ 505. Conversion by tenant in common.-As each tenant in common has a right to possession of the thing held in common, there can not be a conversion by one who merely withholds possession from the other. But anything that amounts to a loss or destruction of the property by fault of the one in possession may be a conversion. So it is generally held that a sale would be. In some states it is held that if the property be in its nature divisible, a de

mand by one owner for his share refused by the other would be enough to establish a conversion.

§ 506. Legal process.-Whenever property is interfered with under color of legal process, the person interfering must confine himself within his lawful powers, and for any excess he may be held liable as for a conversion of the property.

An officer of the law may without process take a thief together with the stolen property, or when he arrests a felon may take his weapons. But generally, in order to take property he must have process. When acting under legal process he can not be held liable as for conversion, if the process be issued by a court having jurisdiction, and be on its face without suspicious earmarks, and if he substantially follows the command of the writ. If he exceeds or violates the command of the writ, as for instance by selling without notice or injuring the goods, he may be held liable for the conversion.

A magistrate is liable for issuing process if he acts knowingly without jurisdiction, and a party who knowingly sets a magistrate or officer in motion to act without authority is liable. If property is sold at a judicial sale upon a void judgment or void process, the purchaser may be liable for conversion.

§ 507. Remedies.-The remedies permitted by law for injuries done to personal property are the following:

1. Recaption, i. e., the act of the owner in retaking possession without suit. This he is permitted to do provided he does not commit a breach of the peace, or trespass upon the lands of one who is not the wrong-doer.

2. By an action at law. The forms of action under which redress was given at common law were: Trespass, to recover damages for direct injuries to property; trover, to recover damages for the wrongful taking or detention of property; detinue, to recover the possession of the property itself; replevin, to recover the possession as well as damages for taking property. Where the injury was indirect or consequential, the action was in "trespass on the case."

3. In some cases a court of equity granted an injunction to prevent the doing or continuance of injury.

The remedies named substantially exist in all the states; the forms of the common law action have, however, been more or less modified and simplified by statutes. As a rule, the action being personal redress may be had wherever jurisdiction can be acquired over the wrong-doer, regardless of the place where the property is or the wrong was committed.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

WRONGS TO REAL PROPERTY.

§ 508. Ownership.-The owner of real estate is entitled to dominion as against all the world; the person in possession is entitled to dominion as against all but the one having a better right. Whoever interferes with his dominion may be treated as a wrong-doer. The injuries that may be done to an owner as to his real estate may be 1st, by putting or keeping him out of possession; 2d, by injuring his land while in his possession.

§ 509. Dispossession.-Under the common law a classification of the wrongs of dispossession included some which, by reason of changes in the law, are now of little importance. Abatement, i. e., where on the death of a person a stranger entered before the heir, and intrusion, i. e., where a stranger entered before a remainderman or reversioner, were wrongs that now do not differ in legal effect from any other unlawful taking possession of land in absence of the owner. The reason for the former classification as distinct wrongs lies in the fact that formerly no ownership was full and complete without an entry; now, however, there is no interval and the title and complete ownership vest immediately. The wrong of disseizin, i. e., entering upon land and depriving the owner of his possession, is the equivalent

of all wrongs wherein the entry was wrongful from the beginning, and continued to be so. The wrong may be committed by one who gains possession for a limited purpose and wrongfully exceeds the authority granted, whereby the entire possession is held to be wrongful from the beginning.

§ 510. Unlawful detention.-Where the original taking possession was not unlawful, but the wrong consists in detaining the possession, this is likewise a dispossession of the owner. This may happen, in case of a lease for a definite term or during the life of another person, by the expiration of the term or by the death of the person; the tenant then holding over without right. It may also happen in case of an estate upon condition where the non-performance of the condition forfeits the estate, and the tenant nevertheless holds the land.

§ 511. Remedies.-An owner's remedy for being deprived of possession of real estate may be by his own act or by legal process. He may by his own act enter upon and take possession of the land, provided he does not thereby commit a breach of the peace. He is not allowed the remedy by his own act, if the holder of the land has an apparent right to hold it, but in such cases the owner must resort to his remedy by action at law.

Under the common law various forms of action were used for the recovery of real estate, but by judicial decision and legislative enactment, these forms. have been gradually displaced and most of the law relative to them is obsolete. Under modern law the almost universal remedy for trying the title to lands is the action for possession, and this has been so simplified