Trover [fr. trouver, Fr., to find]. This was a special action upon the case, properly called the action of trover and conversion (see that title), which might be maintained by any person who had either an absolute or special property in goods, for recovering the value of such goods against another, who, having or being supposed to have obtained possession of such goods by lawful means, had wrongfully converted them to his own use. It originally lay only where the goods had been lost by the plaintiff and 'found' (whence the name) by the defendant, but it was in course of time allowed to be brought as above upon a fictitious allegation of the finding not required to be proved, but not formally abolished until 1852, by the C.L.P. Act, 1852, s. 49.
The action was also termed one of conversion, but 'wrongfully depriving' is the term now more frequently used. Under the old common law there were four different remedies for the wrongful deprivation of goods-viz., the actions of trespass to goods, detinue, replevin, and trover, which was the old name for an action of conversion. Trespass and trover were actions to recover damages merely; the first for the injury to the possession, the second for the loss of the property; but the actions of detinue and replevin were both brought for the return of the goods. The actions of trespass and replevin could be maintained against any one who forcibly took the goods out of the possession of the plaintiff; the actions of detinue and trover lay also against any person who subsequently came into possession of the goods by any means and wrongfully withheld them from the plaintiff. In trespass and replevin the plaintiff was always in possession of the goods and the defendant out of possession at the time when he commenced his wrongful acts. In detinue and trover, on the other hand, the plaintiff was always out of possession and the defendant in possession of the goods when the tort was committed.-Odgers on the Common Law, and see Salmond on Torts.
A common law action for recovery of damages for conversion of personal property, the damages generally being measured by value of property, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1513.