Detinue

In one line

Detinue is the wrongful detention of goods after the person entitled to them has demanded their return.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: detinue is the wrongful detention of a chattel by a person in possession of it against the person entitled to its immediate possession; the plaintiff must prove that he had a right to immediate possession, that he demanded the goods, and that the defendant refused to deliver them, and the relief sought is the return of the goods themselves or, in the alternative, their value together with damages for the detention.

The essentials

1. The plaintiff must have a right to the immediate possession of the goods. An owner who has hired the goods out for a fixed term has no such right until the term ends, so he cannot sue in detinue in the meantime.

2. The defendant must be in possession. Detinue lies against a person who has the goods, not against a person who once had them and has parted with them, whose wrong is conversion.

3. A demand and a refusal. The demand may be in any form and the refusal may be by conduct, but there must be a real refusal. A request for a reasonable time to check the claimant's title is not a refusal.

Detinue in India: sections 7 and 8 of the Specific Relief Act 1963

Section 7 provides that a person entitled to the possession of specific movable property may recover it in the manner provided by the Code of Civil Procedure 1908. Explanation 1 allows a trustee to sue for possession of movable property in which the beneficiary is interested, and Explanation 2 provides that a special or temporary right to present possession is sufficient to support such a suit.

Section 8 provides for the case where the defendant has the goods but is not their owner. It says that a person having possession or control of an article of movable property, of which he is not the owner, may be compelled specifically to deliver it to the person entitled to its immediate possession in four cases: where the thing is held by the defendant as the agent or trustee of the plaintiff; where compensation in money would not afford adequate relief; where it would be extremely difficult to ascertain the actual damage; and where the possession of the thing claimed has been wrongfully transferred from the plaintiff.

The Explanation to section 8 goes further and helps the plaintiff with his proof. Unless the contrary is proved, the court shall presume, in respect of any article claimed under clause (b) or clause (c), that compensation in money would not afford adequate relief, or, as the case may be, that it would be extremely difficult to ascertain the actual damage.