Commentaries on the Laws of England

OF WRONGS ANd their RemediES RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS,...............
all wrong may be considered merely a privation of right, and the natural remedy
is the being put in possession of that right,.

this may be effected either by a delivery of the thing detained to the owner,
or by satisfaction in damages,.

the instruments by which remedy is obtained are suits and actions,.

which are divided into personal, real, and mixed.............

109

111

divil injuries are to the rights of persons or to the rights of property,

injuries to the rights of persons are, 1, to the absolute, 2, to the relative rights, 119

the absolute rights of individuals are, 1, personal security, 2, personal liberty,

8, private property,...

119

OF WRONGS AND THEIR REMEDIES RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS.—(continued.) prez

injuries against a man's personal security are:

1. affecting his life, to be hereafter considered,....

2, 3. affecting his limbs or body, which may be by threats of bodily harm,

by assault, by battery, by wounding, or by mayhem,.

4. affecting his health by unwholesome practices,.

5. affecting his reputation,

which may be by slander,.

or by libel,..

or by malicious prosecution,.

..........

injuries against a man's personal liberty are by false imprisonment,.

to remove which the remedies are, 1, by writ of mainprize; 2, by writ de odio
et atia; 8, by writ de homine replegiando; 4, by writ of habeas corpus,..

of which the last is the principal,.

damages may also be recovered in an action of trespass,

Injuries to private property are considered hereafter,.

injuries to relative rights affect:

I. husbands, and may be,

.....

1. abduction, or taking away his wife, for which he may recover

damages,...

2. adultery, for which trespass or action on the case will lie,.......
8. beating or ill-treating the wife, for which husband and wife join
in suing, or the husband may sue separately for loss of services,

II. parents, by the abduction of children,.

III. guardians, when their wards are stolen or ravished away from them,.

IV. masters, and these are:

1. retaining a man's hired servant before his time has expired,...... 142

2. beating him, per quod servitium amisit,..

142

3. to which may be added the seduction of his female servant,. 148n

the remedy for each is an action for damages,.

the injuries to rights thereto are either by deprivation of possession, or by abuse
or damage to the chattels while the owner continues in possession,.. 145

1. in case of an unlawful taking, remedy to restore the property may be

had by replevin,.

145

which was formerly applicable only to distress,

145

damages may be recovered instead,..

151

2. for an unlawful detainer of goods, remedy to recover possession may

be by replevin or detinue,..

151

or damages may be recovered in trover,.

159

for injuries to property in the owner's possession, the remedies are:

2. by action on the case, where the injury was only consequential,.

injuries to rights in action are by breach of contract,..........

contracts are express or implied,....

express, include debts, covenants and promises,..

a debt is a sum due by certain and express agreement,.

for which action of debt or on the case may be brought,

covenant is an undertaking by deed.............

remedy for breach, an action of covenant to recover damages,

or, in case of covenant real, to compel performance,.

who may take advantage of covenants,.

a promise is in the nature of a verbal covenant,.

remedy for breach, an action of assumpsit,.

1. by action of trespass, where the act was immediately injurious to the

property,.

certain promises required by the statute of frauds to be in writing... 159

implied contracts are such as reason and justice dictate and which

therefore the law presumes the man has contracted to perform.... 160

of which are, 1, those arising from the nature and constitution of

government,.

160

as to pay judgments, penalties, &c.,...

2. those which arise from natural reason and the just construction

of law,...

160

162

OF INJURIES TO PERSONAL PROPERTY.—(continued.)

PAGE.

as 1. to pay quantum meruit for labor,

162

2. to pay quantum valebat for goods,...

168

8. to account for money had and received to the use of another, 163
4. to repay money laid out and expended for one's own use,.

OF INJURIES TO REAL PROFERTY; AND FIRST OF DISPOSSESSION OR OUSTER OF THE

FREEHOLD,

injuries affecting real property are, 1. ouster; 2. trespass; 8. nuisance; 4. waste

5. subtraction; 6. disturbance,.

167

ouster or dispossession may be

1. by abatement, where, on death of the person seized, a stranger enters

before the heir,.

168

2 by intrusion, where after

particular estate is determined, a stranger

169

enters before the remainder man or reversioner,...

8. by disseisin, which is a wrongful putting one out of possession,.
4 by discontinuance, which is where tenant in tail or husband of tenant
in fee makes a larger estate of the land than he is entitled to,....... 171
5. by deforcement, which is where the entry was originally lawful, but
the detainer is become unlawful,.....

the remedies for these wrongs are,

172

I peaceable entry, which is applicable only to the first three cases,...... 175
and the right of which may be tolled,.....
and which must be made within twenty years,.

III. where the wrong doer hath gained the actual right of possession, the
remedy is by writ of right or other writ in the nature thereof,..... 190
the present remedy for these wrongs is by action of ejectment.

CHAPTER XI.

OF DISPOSSESSION, OR OUSTER, OF CHATTELS REAL,.........

197

198-207

ouster from chattels real is,

1. from estates by statute or elegit, for which the remedy is by assize of novel

disseisin,.....

... 198

8. from estates for years, for which the remedies are:

1. a writ of ejectione firma,.

2. a writ quare ejecit infra terminum,

199