Again, in trover for
the conversion of another's chattel, where the dominion exercised
over it was of a slight and ambiguous [144] nature, it has been
said that the taking must be "with the intent of exercising an
ownership over the chattel inconsistent with the real owner's
right of possession." /1/ But this seems to be no more than a
faint shadow of the doctrine explained with regard to larceny,
and does not require any further or special discussion. Trover is
commonly understood to go, like larceny, on the plaintiff's being
deprived of his property, although in practice every possessor
has the action, and, generally speaking, the shortest wrongful
withholding of possession is a conversion.
Be the exceptions more or less numerous, the general purpose of
the law of torts is to secure a man indemnity against certain
forms of harm to person, reputation, or estate, at the hands of
his neighbors, not because they are wrong, but because they are
harms. The true explanation of the reference of liability to a
moral standard, in the sense which has been explained, is not
that it is for the purpose of improving men's hearts, but that it
is to give a man a fair chance to avoid doing the harm before he
is held responsible for it.
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