## Facts

- Horse manure and road scrapings lay scattered along a public highway in Stamford, Connecticut, adjacent to land owned by the borough.
- Thomas Haslem hired two men to rake the scattered material into eighteen heaps (about six cartloads) between roughly 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., intending to haul it away the next evening.
- The heaps were left in the street overnight without any notice identifying Haslem’s claim.
- The next morning, William A. Lockwood saw the heaps, asked the borough warden whether anyone had permission to remove them, and learned no permission had been given.
- Before noon, Lockwood removed the heaps (and additional nearby scattered manure) to his own land.
- Neither party had legal authority from the borough or its officers to remove the manure.
- Haslem demanded payment after discovering the removal; Lockwood refused.
- The trial record indicated the removal would improve public appearance and health; the manure was valued at about $1 per load.

## Issues

1. Whether manure dropped by passing horses on a public highway is abandoned personal property subject to trover, rather than part of the adjoining landowner’s realty.
2. Whether raking scattered abandoned material into heaps gives the gatherer a special property or possessory interest enforceable against third parties.
3. Whether removing the heaps within a short interval, without allowing the gatherer a reasonable time to return and haul them away, constitutes conversion.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut reversed the judgment for the defendant and remanded for a new trial.
- The court held the manure deposited on the highway was abandoned by the horse owners and remained movable personal property, not part of the realty.
- By gathering the scattered manure into distinct heaps, the plaintiff acquired a special property interest superior to that of a stranger.
- The defendant’s removal of the heaps before the plaintiff had a reasonable time to return and take them away was a conversion.
- The case was sent back for determination of damages based on the value of the converted manure.

## Legal Principles

- Chattels abandoned by their owners on a public way may be appropriated by the first person to take possession, subject to any superior claim by the government or landowner.
- Material lying loose and unattached to land does not become part of the fee merely because it rests on the soil; it may remain personal property.
- A person who, by labor, gathers scattered abandoned material into identifiable piles may acquire a qualified or special property right enforceable in trover against third parties.
- The first possessor who has reduced such material to possession is entitled to a reasonable time to remove it; interference within that period may constitute conversion even if the taker lacked notice of the possessor’s identity.

## Conclusion

The court held that abandoned manure on a highway was personal property and that the plaintiff’s labor in collecting it into heaps created a protectable possessory interest; the defendant converted the heaps by taking them before the plaintiff had a reasonable time to remove them, requiring a new trial on damages.


Haslem v. Lockwood, 37 Conn. 500 (Conn. 1871)