Detinue

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with the writ of detinue, which was very similar to, and in some cases had the same wording as, the writ of debt. It lay for specific chattels detained from someone with a better right to them, and the pleadings in the reported cases show the various kinds of claim which could be brought within the same formula. Detinue on a bailment rested on a direct transaction between the parties, but detinue could also be based solely on property, where a defendant had obtained possession of goods formerly in the plaintiff’s possession but without acquiring title from him. The principal species of the proprietary form was detinue sur trover (‘on a finding’), the ‘finding’ being open to fiction. The scope for special pleading in detinue was limited; but it came to be established that the liability of a bailee was stricter than that of a finder.