The Sun.
London, England, 1808-11-19 00:00:00

STEELE V. BROWN AND PARRY.

This was an a6tion iii trover. The. Plaintiff 114(1
purchased the. public-house, called the Red Lon,
.sitUate in _Gray's-inn-taut, a; a si,le b
which he let to a man of
_the home of Cockhurtie,
together with the fixtures, Mriiiture; &c. in t Aril,
1007, in payment for which he. had . rcceiv,ed 2001.
in tnoney, wtkich_bad been.advauced c;cl.l.oerne
by the Defendants, proprietors. of thy Golden-live
Brewery, 'together with Cockburn,:s notes for the
balance. of the pi:chase-11170 toy. < As a counter se-
-for these pQte, he took .a sue of the
furniture of the: house. In January last, suspeCt7
ing that Cockburne's.afThirs were notas prosperous
as they should be, he seized ou.the furniture, for
the
: purpose seiiirig, to pay himself what was
due ; and the Defendants also sent in an execution,
by the Sheriffs, upon ajudgment, under Which.they
at:.tuailv sold ; and this action was,brought to recover
the debt, ,the .securitvf)r which had, been thus
taken away trout the Planntif. -.•

i[-Iciye, the first 't fitness for the Piliniiff;
wai; a firol;er ; he was employed upon occasion of
the. le: ting i,c Red Lion public-house, Gi.a)'s
by tilt! Pliontitf, cockburne, for the purpose
of %aiding the furniture. Cockburite was put into
Possession, and executed a bill of sale of the furni-
ture to the Plaintiff, which be witnes.ied. Upon
that occasion he saw a person of the name of Grey
there, who appeared as the agent of the Defend.
ants ;, this was tbn the 16th of 4ril, 1807. In con-
sequence of what he. saw about cockburne, he
hinted to Grey his dOubts that he had no money ;,
Grey told hint he was to advance2ool. on the part
of the Defeodantsitd Cockburne, and he informed
G-i-ey,of the bill:of sale to executed by Caakburne
to Stecie;together with his notes, aspurt payment
of the lease.

Upon his cross-examination, he said, the 2001.
advanced by the Defendants to Cockburne, was
paid to the Plaintiff; the bill of •sale was not exe-
cuted on the same day the possession was-given, i
being late in
.the evening, and no stamps to be
procured, but some days after ; and Steele,• the
Pr:timid', knew that the 2001. which he received
from_ Cockburne had been aci,;aticed by the De-
fendants. He understood that the Defendants were
to have an assignment of the lease of the house, as a
security for the money so advanced by them. Cock
burne remained in pu,session of house and furniture,
after the execution of the bill o) sale.

John- Fotherby, an atnlioneer, swOre; he went
in, company with the Plaintiff, to Coekburnews, OP.
the 24th of January last, witn' the Plaintiff took
posession of the furnittire, and direCted hire to sell
them., Ile proceeded'to take an inventory accord-
ingly, and left his son and another man in posse-
sion as his bailiffs. In three days after, while pre-
paring the goods for sale, the Sheiiff's Officer in-
terrupted them and took possession, and the goods
were afterwards sold by anation by Grey he was
present at the sale, and Grey sold as the agent of
the Defendants. - „ •

Upon his cross-examination, it appeared, that On
the day, after he. bad 'been put into pos,se,ssion hy-
tlkyPlaintitf, they went together to the,Ddendants,.
_ where Steele told one of them, Browne,' that he had
learnedCockhurne was not doing well, and,that he.
had,tal;en pOssession of the furniture under the ,bill:
of sale.•

The son of the last witness, and his servant, v hom
he had pit to take care ,of the goods, proved the
pftsse6sion, until interrtipted therein by the Sheritfs
Officer at the suit of the Pelendants.

Joseph Hurst, the Sheriff's Officer, proved he
received a'-Warrant at the suit Of the Defendants to
levy the amount of an execution on the goods of
.Cockburne-, tinder which he seized ; but denied.all
AnoWledge of the Plainfitf, or any other having been
in fici3sessiOn.under seizure at the time he took the
goods. They were sold under this warrant, on the
29th January lagti:for 2241. The case for the Plain-
tiff was
.closed here.
. Serjeant VAnGuAN, for the Defendants, contend-
ed, in the first place, that a bill of sale did not vest
tin property without: lossesion followed. •
Sir fAmr.s.:WANSFITMEriaid, he knew of no finch
law but reserved the'point tpr future argument.
' . The .Learned Counsel. then strongly urged to 'the
fury that here there had been 440 possessiog in tact
by the::Plaintiff, but-A-hat the, whole was an.-tiftet•
thought to ouye the Defendants of their legal ren edy
to recover ajust debt, by means of a poiket' deed of