Pierson v. Post case brief (with professor's class notes added in)

Pierson v. Post

FACTS

• P began pursuit of a fox on unpossessed land.  
• D, knowing that P was in pursuit of the fox, killed the fox himself and carried it off.

ISSUE
-Did the P, by his own pursuit of the fox by his own hounds, acquire a right to the property (the fox), as to sustain an action against the P for killing and taking the fox away?
HOLDING
-No, the mere pursuit of the fox gave the P no legal right to the fox.  The fox became the property of the D who intercepted and killed the fox.

RULES

-A fox is ferae naturae (wild by nature), and property in such animals is acquired only by occupancy.
-Occupany = actual corporal possession.
-One must acquire occupancy for ownership.
-The basic concept of occupancy is relative, or circumstantial.
-The fox only is owned once it has been deprived of it's natural liberty.
-Justinian: "pursuit alone vests no property right in the huntsman; even pursuit accompanied with wounding is equally ineffectual for that purpose, unless the animal is actually taken.

APPLICATION

-nets or toils may justly be deemed to give possession

Class: Property
Subject: Wild animals, possession, control