Conway v. Edwards
Conway v. Edwards
Opinion of the Court
By the Court,
Upon execution issued by a justice of the peace against the
That a sale had been made by Boynton to Conway seems not to have been questioned, but the defendants endeavored to show that no immediate and continued change of possession of the property had taken place. To this question all, or nearly all, of the testimony appears to have been directed at the trial; anything, therefore, tending to establish such change of possession was important to the plaintiff. But we find in the record the statement that he offered to prove by the witness Gantz certain acts of ownership performed by the plaintiff respecting the property after the sale. The defendant objected to the testimony thus offered, and the objection was sustained. To this ruling exception was taken, and it is here assigned for error. Upon what ground the evidence so offered was ruled out, does not appear. Other testimony of a similar character was admitted, and properly so, if it in any wise tended to show a change of possession. Nothing generally can have a more direct tendency to show a change of possession than the control and management of the property, or acts of ownership exercised by the vendee over it. It is often the only mode whereby the change can be shown to be continuous. _ Surely, if in this case an immediate delivery had been made, (and whether there had or not, was a question upon the evidence in the case for the jury to determine) no better evidence of the continuance of that change could be adduced than proof that the plaintiff’ assumed the management and control of the property after the sale; at least, such evidence would tend to prove a continued change of the possession, and that was sufficient to entitle the plaintiff to its introduction, if there were no special objection to it, which does not appear to have been the case here.
The Court erred in ruling out the evidence of the witness Gantz, as well as the lease offered by the plaintiff; hence, the judgment must be reversed and a new trial granted.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.