## Facts

- Armory, a chimney sweep’s boy, found a jewel and brought it to Delamirie’s goldsmith shop to learn what it was.
- Delamirie’s apprentice took the jewel under the pretense of weighing it, removed the stones, and consulted his master.
- The apprentice (acting for the shop) offered Armory a small sum for the jewel.
- Armory refused and demanded the return of the item.
- The apprentice returned only the socket (setting) without the stones.
- Armory sued Delamirie in trover to recover the value of the jewel wrongfully withheld.

## Issues

1. Whether a finder of a chattel, though not the true owner, has a possessory interest sufficient to maintain trover against a later wrongdoer.
2. Whether the shop’s master may be liable in trover for the wrongful acts of an apprentice committed in the course of the business.
3. How damages should be measured when the defendant withholds the chattel and thereby prevents proof of its quality and value.

## Decision

- The court held that the finder has a property interest in the found jewel sufficient to maintain trover against all persons except the rightful owner.
- The court held the action could lie against the master because the master gives credit to the apprentice and is answerable for the apprentice’s conduct in the business.
- On damages, the court directed that, unless the defendant produced the jewel to show it was not of the highest quality, the jury should presume against the defendant and value the jewel as the best stones that would fit the socket.
- The jury assessed damages on the basis of the highest-quality jewel fitting the setting.

## Legal Principles

- Prior peaceful possession (including a finder’s possession) confers a right to possess a chattel enforceable against subsequent possessors lacking superior title; only the true owner has a better claim.
- A defendant who wrongfully interferes with a chattel is liable in trover to the person with the better possessory right, even if that plaintiff cannot prove absolute ownership.
- A master may be liable for a servant’s or apprentice’s torts committed within the scope of the business, including wrongful conversion or detention of a customer’s property delivered to the shop.
- When a wrongdoer withholds the chattel and thereby creates uncertainty about its value, the factfinder may presume the strongest reasonable case against the wrongdoer and award damages on that basis unless the wrongdoer produces the item to rebut the presumption.

## Conclusion

The court recognized that a finder’s possessory right is sufficient to recover against later wrongdoers, imposed liability on a master for an apprentice’s misconduct in the shop, and approved a valuation presumption against a defendant who withholds the chattel and prevents accurate proof of its worth.


Armory v. Delamirie, 1 Str. 505 (K.B. 1722)