33 Pa. 482 | Pa. | 1859
The opinion of the court was delivered by
When the execution was levied upon the articles, as the property of Maxwell & Cumming, the plaintiff Meyers claimed them as his. The claim was not a restricted one; not a claim to the possession merely, or to the right of possession for a limited time, but it asserted absolute and exclusive proprietorship. To support such a claim he became the actor, and upon its basis, the issue was formed, and the parties went to trial. Before the jury, the plaintiff, instead of proving that the property in the articles levied upon was in him, disproved it. The evidence submitted by him established, that the ownership was either in Bancroft & Boustead, or in Maxwell & Cumming, the defendants named in the execution. It proved nothing in himself more than a temporary right of possession under a lease for a year. Had he stood upon his possession alone, he might have had a primd facie case, for simple possession is some evidence of ownership of personal property; but
We express no opinion upon the questions whether the property levied upon was real or personal, or whether there was any evidence of a lease of it to the claimant by any one authorized to let it. Our opinion relates only to the failure of evidence to support the affirmative of the issue raised by the pleadings.
Judgment affirmed.