Dreyer v. Ming
Decision Date | 31 October 1856 |
Citation | 23 Mo. 434 |
Parties | DREYER et al., Respondents, v. MING, Appellant. |
Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
1. A. claiming to own land belonging to B. sells timber on said land to C., who cuts and removes the same; held, that A. may be held liable to B., as a principal trespasser, for the timber so cut and taken away.
Appeal from Franklin Circuit Court.
This was an action in the nature of an action of trespass, for wrongfully and without leave entering upon the land of plaintiffs, and cutting and carrying away timber, &c. The answer, after denying the facts stated in the petition, sets up an ownership of the land in defendants. It appeared in evidence on the trial, that plaintiff had a patent for the land from the United States; that timber had been cut on the land for railroad ties by one Richard Crews; that said Crews had purchased the right to cut and carry away said timber from defendant, who claimed to have a tax title to said land; that he had paid to defendant $420 for ties so cut and carried away. The court, upon the motion of plaintiff, gave the following instructions:
The court refused the following instructions asked by defendant:
Exceptions were duly taken. The jury gave a verdict for plaintiff.
N. Holmes, for appellant.
I. The trespass must be proved to have been committed by the defendant, or by his orders, or at his instigation. The same rule prevails in civil actions for trespass as in criminal proceedings for misdemeanors. (1 Archb. N. P. 413, 424; 2 Greenl. Ev. sec. 621.) It is not a case of agency, or of master and servant, but of a man standing on his own right, acting for himself and on his own personal responsibility. Crews was liable for the trespass. There was no evidence that the defendant ordered, instigated, or advised the trespass.
Bay, for respondent.
I. By the act of selling the plaintiff's property, Ming assumed control over it, and, by receiving compensation for the trees cut, he virtually directed the trespass to be committed; and it is a well settled principle of law, that any unlawful interference with, or exercise of control over, the property of another, is sufficient to subject the party to an action of trespass. (8 Wend. 613; 12 Wend. 39; 7 Cowen, 735; 10 Mass. 125; 7 Mo. 175; 2 Black. 892.)SCOTT, Judge, delivered the opinion of the court.
There is no doubt that it is a general rule that all persons who order or procure a trespass to be committed, and indemnify others for doing it, or incite them to do it, may be sued as principals. The defendant, Ming, had no right to the timber, and he...
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Chouteau v. Boughton
...85 Mo. 249; Moody v. Deutsch, 85 Mo. 237. (6) One who sells timber from lands not his own, that is another's, is a trespasser. Dryer v. Ming, 23 Mo. 434. T. Mauldin for respondent. (1) Plaintiff could not maintain trespass for acts done prior to the date of his deed. (2) The beneficiaries, ......
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Bl'Kb'Y, Ky. & W.V.C. & C. Co. v. K'Ntl'd C. & C. Co.
...maker's right to use the property, and is equivalent to counseling and directing the grantee or lessee to commit the trespass. In Dreyer v. Ming, 23 Mo. 434, it was held that where A, claiming to own land belonging to B, sold timber on the land to C, who cut and removed it, A was liable to ......
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McBryde v. Coggins-McIntosh Lumber Co.
...the acts complained of, and, if trespass is established against the company, the grantor in the deed is also responsible. Dreyer v. Ming, 23 Mo. 434. ' See Owens v. Branning Mfg. Co., 168 N.C. 397, 400, 84 S.E. 389, The headnote in Dreyer v. Ming, 23 Mo. 434, correctly summarizes the decisi......