Goddard v. Winchell case brief

Goddard v. Winchell case summary
22 Ill.86 Iowa 71, 52 N.W. 1124 (1892)

FACTS
-May 2nd 1980-Aerolite fell onto Pl.’s land, weighing 66 lbs. buried self into the ground 3 feet, and embedded in the land at a point about 20 rods from the section line on the north.
-The day after it fell, dug out by Peter Hoagland, in the presence of the tenant of the land, Elickson. Hoagland took it to his house, claimed it.
-May 5th 1980, sold to Def. for $105, possession kept until taken under writ of repliven. Def. knew it was an Aerolite and fell on land of south of Hoagland’s.
-Court said value was $101.
-Tenant only had grass privilege (Elickson had no right to dig for minerals)
 
(Meteor falls, person trespasses to dig up, trespasser sells to x, x buys, x is sued by landowner for meteor)

RULES
-Here, the meteor was not a movable thing on the earth, it was in the earth, and in a very significant sense immovable.
-"These gains are of accretion, and the deposit becomes the property of the owner of the soil on which it is made."

APPLICATION
-The meteor became a part of the soil when it fell from the sky. 
-The court states that the plaintiff was the true owner of it, as it was part of his land.-The meteor was not any more usable for any other purpose than a regular stone.
HOLDING
Act of Hoagland removing the aerolite, which became a part of the soil on which it fell, was wrong. The plaintiff was the owner of it.