Definition
Wrongful disposal of goods.
Dealing with goods inconsistent with owner's rights.
Etymology & Origin
From Latin 'conversio' (a turning about, transformation), from 'convertere' (to turn around, change), formed from 'con-' (together, completely) + 'vertere' (to turn). In the legal sense, conversion is a 'turning' of the goods to the defendant's own use — a wrongful assumption of dominion over another's property that effectively 'turns' it away from its rightful possessor. The old common-law action for conversion was called <em>trover</em> (from 'trover' — to find, originally based on the fiction that the defendant had 'found' the goods).
Full Legal Analysis
Conversion: The Wrongful Assumption of Dominion
Conversion is the most serious of the torts that protect possession of goods. It is committed when a person, intentionally and without lawful authority, deals with goods in a manner that is wholly inconsistent with the right of the true owner or lawful possessor — in effect denying that right and asserting a dominion of their own. To convert goods is to treat another's property as if it were one's own: to sell it, destroy it, consume it, give it away, or refuse to return it on demand.
Acts That Amount to Conversion
The classic acts of conversion, recognised by centuries of common-law authority and received into Indian practice, include: (a) the wrongful taking of goods from the possession of another; (b) the wrongful detention of goods after a demand for their return has been made; (c) the wrongful disposition of goods — selling, pledging, or giving them to a third party; (d) the wrongful destruction or material alteration of goods; and (e) the wrongful use of goods in a manner that excludes the true owner. Mere negligence or accidental damage is not conversion; the essence of the tort is an intentional dealing inconsistent with the owner's right.
The Measure of Damages
Because conversion is treated as a wrongful appropriation, the usual measure of damages is the full value of the goods at the time and place of conversion — not merely the depreciation or damage caused. The defendant, in effect, is treated as having bought the goods by the act of conversion, and must pay their worth. The rightful owner may, however, elect to recover the goods (where they still exist and can be traced) or to waive the tort and sue in assumpsit for the proceeds, where the defendant has sold the goods. Indian courts apply these common-law principles in the absence of any codified tort of conversion.
“Conversion is theft's civil shadow. Where a man seizes another's goods and treats them as his own — selling, destroying, or denying the true owner's claim — the law treats him as having taken the goods outright, and fixes him with their full value as the price of his usurpation.”
