Trover
in law, a species of action on the case which is employed to try a disputed question of property in goods and chattels. The declaration in trover contained, previous to 1852, a formal allegation that the plaintiff lost, and the defendant found, the goods in question; but this legal fiction is now abolished , and the action is brought on a simple allegation that the defendant converted to his own use, or wrongfully deprived the plaintiff of the use and possession of the plaintiff's goods. In this action the plaintiff recovers damages equal to the value of the thing converted, but not the thing itself, which requires another form of action; detinue or replevin.