Harris v. Newman
Harris v. Newman
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the court by
The rejection of this testimony is now assigned for error. If the facts disclosed constituted a good defence, and the evidence was in itself unobjectionable, it should of course have been admitted.
The right which was set up under the judgment and execution in ejectment cannot be maintained, for admitting it to be true that what is lawfully done towards executing a judgment which is afterwards reversed, still neither judgment or execution in ejectment could confer a title to personal property. If indeed the title to the land and right of possession had been finally settled in favor of Harris, the action could not be .maintained, because being owner of the timber before it was cut into wood, he would own the wood also; but as the judgment was reversed, the rights of
It seems also that the defendant offered in evidence a deed from Foster to himself and Joseph R. Plummer, for the land which had been the subject of controversy. The object of this testimony is manifest. When trees are severed from the soil and converted into wood or other material, the right of the owner of the trees is not divested so long as identity can be given to the material in its altered state. If the defendant therefore was owner of the soil and the trees, he was also owner of the Avood, and as mere possession does not entitle the possessor to an action of trespass against the true owner, the same rule may Avith propriety be applied when the trespass is waived and trover is brought. Possession or a qualified right is sufficient, except as against the true OAvner. If Harris had title to the land and the right of possession, he had a good defence, otherwise a mere trespasser might in this form of action recover against the rightful owner.
This part of the evidence, however, is not before us to enable us to judge of its competency. The deed is not set out, nor are the reasons urged for its rejection. The bill of exceptions merely informs us that: “The defendant then offered to read before the jury, the deed of Hugh Foster to defendant and Joseph R. Plum-mer, to show defendant’s legal right and title to the land aforesaid, but the counsel for the plaintiff objected, and the court sustained
The judgment must be affirmed.
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