preview

Goff V. Kilts 15 Wend: Case Study

Decent Essays

Case: Goff v Kilts (1836) 15 Wend. 550
Plaintiff: Kilts, who is an owner of bees. He is the respondent on appeal. He is represented by J. A. Seeber.
Defendant: Goff, who is the owner of Lenox Iron Company. He is represented by S. Chapman.
Procedural History: The Plaintiff, Kilts, recovered judgement in the Madison Common Pleas Justice Court. The defendant appealed against the decision to the Supreme Court of Judicature of New York.
Statement of Facts: A swarm of bees owned by Kilts flew away and ended up in a tree that was located on the property of Lenox Iron Company. The plaintiff tracked the bees to the tree that they had been to and marked it. Two months after that the tree was cut down, the bees were murdered, and the honey was taken …show more content…

Holding: The plaintiff has qualified property rights over the bees. This is because he caught the wild bees and kept them. If the bees were to escape from their first owner, the first owner would still own the bees provided that he can track the bees down to their new hives.
Rule of Law: According to Heermance v. Vernay, 6 Johns. R. 5, and Blake v. Jerome, 14 id. 406, if an owner is unable to retake his personal chattel because it is on another person’s property, he does not lose his rights to his personal chattel. He only loses his ability to use his personal chattel.
Reasoning: Society has progressed such that property rights are clearly defined and more durable. If domesticated animals were to run to other person’s property, the owner of that property does not have the rights to the animal. In a similar reasoning, once animals feræ naturæ have been reclaimed, they are not restored to their wild state even if they were to escape. The original owner cannot pursue the animals into the other person’s property without committing trespass. However, this does not mean that he has lost the property rights to the animals that he had previously

Get Access