Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/417

* CONVEKSION. 357 CONVEYANCE. deterioration because of careless storage bv a ■nMreboiiseman, is not conversion, as neither car- rier nor wareliousonian in such case exercises an act of ownership over it. The common-law action by the owner against the converter was that of trover (q.v.), so called from the French trouver, to find, because the declaration contained an averment that the de- fendant had found the property and had there- after converted it to his own use. This aver- ment, being in mo.st cases fictitious, is no longer employed, and the action is now spoken of as that of conversion rather than of trover. The amount of damages recoverable in an action of this kind is generally the value of the plaintitt"s interest in the property at the time of the conversion. Whether the defendant has the right to reduce damages by tendering the property to the plaintiff is a question upon which the courts in this country are not agreed. Vpon principle it would seem he has no such right. In case the pi'operty is still in possession of the converter, the owner has the option of re- claiming or of suing for damages. If he resorts to the latter alternative, obtains judgment, and collects it, the title to the converted property vests in the defendant. But neither in England nor in this country does title vest in the defend- ant without the plaintifl'"s assent, unless the judgment is satisfied. See Tort; and consult the authorities there referred to. Conrcrsion of properly in equity is quite a different thing from the common-law tort, which we have been considering. In equity, real prop- erty is treated as converted into personalty, and personal property into realty, where the owner has properly expressed his intention that such an alteration should take place. Land may be converted into the purchase money, in equity, by a contract to sell ; it may be converted into per- sonalty, also, by a devise in a will to sell it and distribute the proceeds. As equitable conver- sion works a radical change in the legal char- acter and the devolution of property, the inten- tion of the owner to eli'eet such a conversion must be clearly manifested. The conversion of land into personalty is also brought about in the administration of the estates of bankru]its or of intestates, generally under statutory provisions. The land is sold by trustees or administrators, and the proceeds applied to the payment of debts. Conversion is applied, by some authorities, to the change of partnership debts, with the consent of creditors, into the debts of one partner, or the change of a partner's debts into those of the firm. See EQt^TY: and consult the authorities there re- ferred to. CONVERTER. A device used in metallurgy, and consisting of a receptacle holding iron which is to be converted into steel. It is a vessel usually of spherical shape, lined with fire-clay, the bottom having numerous holes through which a powerful blast is driven during the process. From this vessel the liquid steel is poured into molds. The converter forms an essential part of the Bessemer process, which is described at length under Iron and Steel. The apparatus is also emploved in copper-melting. See Copper. CONVEX.' Sec Concave. CONVEYANCE (from convey, OF. eonveier, conroier, Fr. eovroyer. from ML. conviare, to ac- company, from com-, together + via, way; con- nected with Ijith. weza, wagon-track, Skt. vaha, road, Goth, ir-ig.t, OHG. wee, Ger. weg, AS. weg, Kngl. icay, from Lat. vehere, Skt. vali, to carry). The technical term for a transfer of real ]>roperty the ivord having in law- retained its earlier English meaning of a transfer, or passing, of a thing from one to an- other. It comprehends all manner of trans- fers — whether by livery of seizin, judgment of law, or deed — whereby any inti^rest in land is vested in another, but it is strictly applicable only to transfers inter vivos, and does not include devises of land by will, or tjie devolution of an estate upon the heir by descent, or to the husband and wife of their curtesy and dower, or to the State of its right by escheat or forfeiture; neither does it include involuntary transfers of property, as by bankruptcy, the creation of judgment or statutory liens, etc. It is, thus, a term of much narrower signification than alienation, and somewhat more restricted than common assurance, though it is much wider than the term grant, as it includes transfers of interests which do not require, or which cannot be effected by, that process. A lease for years, even though made by parol, is a convej'ance, and so is a mortgage, a declaration of trust, a marriage settlement, the creation of a power affecting land, etc. The term is also applied to the transfer of title to vessels, but not to the alienation of other species of personal property. The general substitution of written for parol and ceremonial transfers of land, effected bv the Statute of Frauds {29 Car. II., c. 3, 1676)", has made the term conveyance one of common appli- cation to the instrument of transfer, as well as to the transaction itself. The difficult and technical character of the law of real property appears at its worst in the complicated processes which have from time to time been developed for transferring such prop- erty. The earlier methods of the common-law system depended for their efficacy largely on the notoriety of the transaction, the feoffment, or livery of seizin, being a public ceremonial, and the subsequently devised processes of 'levying a fine' and 'suffering a recovery' being attended with the publicity of judicial proceedings. These 'notorious' conveyances, as they were termed, have in modem times given place to more con- venient modes of transfer, which are called 'secret' conveyances. This salutary change has been brought about by the general substitution of wTitten deeds of transfer, which take effect upon delivery, for the older and more formal methods, and the form and style of these deeds, formerly in the highest degree technical and complicated, have in recent years been greatly simi)lified by statute. The general prevalence of registry acts and of the practice of recording in the LTnited States does not affect the secret character of the conveyance, as such, this being complete upon the delivery of the deed, the object of the recording being only to guard against a subsequent fraudulent transfer of the same property. The earlier modes of conveyance at the com- mon law, besides their notoriety, and in part as a consequence thereof, had the extraordinary operation of transferring a greater estate in the land than the transferrer himself had. That is to say, a tenant for life or years might by feoff- ment convey the premises in fee simple to a