Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 3).pdf/130

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
90
NORTH DAKOTA REPORTS.

show that he was in possession, or had an immediate right of possession, of the grain at the time of the alleged conversion. The statute, at most, only gives a lien. This lien may be foreclosed upon the notice, and in the manner, provided by law for foreclosing chattel mortgages, but it carries with it no right of possession until the right to foreclosure is complete. The complaint fails to show that the credit extended to the party for whom the threshing was done had expired, or that the account was duc. It is well settled that no action for conversion can be maintained unless the plaintiff shows a general or special ownership in the property converted, and possession or a legal right to: immediate possession, at the time of the conversion. Barton v. Dunning, 6 Blackf. 209; Grady v. Newby, Id. 442; Dungan v. Insurance Co., 38 Md. 242; Owens v. Weedman, 82 Ill. 409; Fulton v. Fulton, 48 Barb. 581; Danley v. Rector,10 Ark. 211. The order of the District Court overruling the demurrer to the complaint is reversed, and that court is directed to enter an order sustaining the demurrer, and giving respondent 20 days after the entry of such order in which to amend his complaint, if he so desires. All concur.

(54 N. W. Rep. 313.)