9 Haw. 14 | Haw. | 1893
Opinion of the Court, by
This is an action of trovfer, damages' laid at $300, for wrongful conversion of goods consisting of electro-plating machinery, tools and supplies, and chattels of plaintiffs, which were in a shop occupied by plaintiffs rented of defendant. The ease was heard in the Police Court of Honolulu, which gave judgment for defendant, and on appeal again by a Justice of this Court at Chambers, who, in affirming the judgment below, held that the goods in question were legally distrained. The essential facts found were that plaintiffs
The common law also allowed the landlord, when rent was in arrears, to enter the tenant’s premises and there distrain his goods and chattels. But if the landlord abused his authority, as by breaking open an outer door, he became a trespasser ab initio, and the distress was rendered wholly illegal.
In The Six Carpenters Case, 8 Coke, 146 (Sm. Ld. Gas. 216), it was resolved that “ when entry, authority or license is given to anyone by the law, and he doth abuse it, he shall be a trespasser ab initio.” Otherwise of an authority given by the party. In Semayne's Case, 5 Coke, 91 (Sm. Ld. Gas. 183), it was resolved that in the case of a dwelling house, which is a man’s castle, although it is not an abuse of authority for an officer to break the house if necessary to effect an entry in the execution of criminal process, for this concerns the commonwealth, yet it is otherwise in the execution of civil
Our,statute allows the landlord no.greater privilege than was allowed by the common law in respect to the mode of entry. If the landlord abuses his privilege,' the distress is rendered wholly void. It is an abuse of his privilege to break open an outer door that is locked. The law confers upon the landlord the unusual privilege of being both judge and executioner in his own case, and he must be held to strict accountability in the exercise of this privilege. There is even more reason for so holding now than there was when the common law grew up, for the policy of the law now is against conferring such exceptional privileges upon landlords. Indeed, in the United States the remedy by distress has become unpopular, and has by statute been abolished in many of the States, and restricted and regulated in others. 5 Am. & Eng. Encyc. of Law, 711.
Trover is a proper remedy for a wrongful distress. So it
The measure of damages is the market value of the goods •at the time of conversion, with interest to the time of trial, without deducting the amount of rent due. Wood’s Mayne on Damages, Sec. 498; Attack vs. Bramwell, supra; Hancock vs. Austin, supra. At the trial no evidence was taken upon the question of the value of the goods at the time of conversion, although there was testimony as to their original cost. And no damages were assessed, the Court having taken the view that the distress was legal.
It is unnecessary to consider the further question whether the distress was unlawful, because the amount of goods taken was excessive.
The decision appealed from is reversed, and the case is remitted to a Judge of the Circuit Court of the First Circuit to assess the damages, the Justice who formerly heard the case having no jurisdiction to hear it now, by the provisions of the Act to Beorganize the Judiciary Department.