137 Mo. App. 571 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1909
— This is an action of replevin instituted before a justice of the peace to recover possession of certain household furniture. The case proceeded on appeal to the circuit court and was there tried anew. The furniture in controversy had been purchased by plaintiff for George McClaskey. Plaintiff was conducting a blacksmith shop in the town of Coatesville and McClaskey hired to him, boarding for a while in the town, but afterwards inducing Barnes to purchase this furniture so McClaskey could bring his wife and child to him and go to housekeeping. The house rented by McClaskey belonged to Mrs. Plessner, wife of defendant. Barnes and McClaskey bought the furniture in Ottumwa, Iowa, the former paying for and turning it over to the latter with the understanding he was to use it as long as he worked for Barnes, and buy it from the latter when able. McClaskey and his family put the furniture into Mrs. Plessner’s house, which they occupied for some months and then McClaskey left Barnes’ employ and the country. The latter wanted possession of his furniture and as Plessner and his wife refused to surrender it, the present action was instituted. The sole
The verdict of the jury was in this form:
“We, the jury, find that at the institution of this suit the plaintiff was the owner of and entitled to the possession of the goods described in the affidavit, to-wit: one bedstead, one dresser, one stand table, one set of bed springs, one mattress, one kitchen table, one rocking chair and one commode.
“Frank Case, Foreman.”
The instructions left to the jury in manifold phases and according to sound theories of law, the question •of whether defendant was in possession of the property in controversy at the time the action was instituted before the justice of the peace; but the.verdict found by the jury was verbatim according to the form furnished by the court in an instruction drawn and requested by plaintiff. The form of verdict the jury was directed to return in case the finding was for plaintiff, was not a general verdict on all the issues, but one of findings on certain special issues and omitting a finding on the principal issue in contest, to-wit, defendant’s possession of the property at the time the action was begun. Our •statute on the subject of replevin, and indeed, the entire law of that action, intend that it shall lie only against a party who wrongfully detains the property in controversy from the complainant; a fact which must be al
The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded.