Hay v. Tillyer

• Decision Date: 16 May 1888
• Citation: 14 A. 18
• Parties: HAY et al. v. TILLYER et al.
• Court: New Jersey Court of Chancery

14 A. 18

HAY et al.

v. TILLYER et al.

Court of Chancery of New Jersey.

May 16, 1888.

On bill for injunction.

C. S. King and D. J. Pancoast, for complainants. T. E. French, for defendants.

BIRD, V. C. The complainants are the owners in fee of certain land upon which have been built glass factories. In 1884, they leased these premises to the defendants. Before the defendants took possession the complainants sold and delivered to them a large amount of personal property upon the premises. A considerable portion of this personal property had been and was fitted for use in the manufacture of glass. The property thus sold was very carefully inventoried. A list of several hundred items was made, and the value of each article set opposite thereto. The object of this suit is to restrain the defendants from removing three furnaces from these premises. The complainants say that it was according to custom not to remove such furnaces at the end of a term; they also say that, although not in writing, it was understood and agreed between the parties that these furnaces were to remain at the end of the term; and they also say that everything which it was intended should become the property of the defendants was sold to them, and included in the inventory above referred to, and that everything not so included was intended to remain in and belong to the complainants. The defendants, upon the other hand, insist that they bought these furnaces, together with the other items of personal property, and that they are entitled to remove them by virtue of such purchase. They claim that they not only purchased them, but that the material which they then purchased has been lost in the new material which they have from time to time used in the construction of other furnaces, so that the present furnaces are entirely their own independently, and that, as trade fixtures, they are justified in removing them.

These furnaces do not become part and parcel of the real estate, as trade fixtures often do. They are built and put in place every year. It seems that one blast, which lasts for several months, has such an effect upon them as to render them unfit for use for another blast, or another year. They are placed upon a solid foundation, and are sometimes made of sandstone; but the better or more durable ones are made principally of German clay, which is worth from $12 to $15 per ton. At the end of a blast the furnace is entirely removed, and the glass which adheres to the clay...