Law. [subst. use of OF. trover (11th c.), F. trouver pres. inf., to find.] The act of finding and assuming possession of any personal property; hence (in full, action of trover), an action at law to recover the value of personal property illegally converted by another to his own use.
Originally the action was brought for damages against one who had found and refused to give up the goods of the plaintiff on demand; this refusal constituted ‘conversion’ (CONVERSION 7); hence the action was called trovier and conversion. Later, the finding became a legal fiction, and it is now only necessary to prove the ownership and detention of the goods.
1594. West, 2nd Pt. Symbol., Chancerie, § 148. They came to the handes and possession of your poore suppliant … by way of trover.
1615, 1712, 1765. [see CONVERSION 7].
1678. Butler, Hud., III. iii. 648. Whether I should … bring my Action of Conversion And Trover for my Goods?
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XII. iv. Some perhaps would have given nothing [for the pocket-book] and left the Fellow to his Action of Trover.
1848. Arnould, Mar. Insur., I. iv. (1866), 195. The policy, when effected, becomes in law the property of the assured, who may maintain trover for it.
1876. Lowell, Among my Bks., Ser. II. 323. In this sense the author of a dictionary might bring an action of trover against every other author who used his words.
