Specific Relief Act Section 8 — Liability of person in possession, not as owner, to deliver to persons entitled to immediate possession

CHAPTER I RECOVERING POSSESSION OF PROPERTY

General

Summary

If someone is holding or controlling a movable item that they do not own, a court can order them to give that specific item to the person who has the immediate right to have it. This can happen in four situations: when the holder is the owner’s agent or trustee, when money would not be enough to make up for losing the item, when it is very hard to put a money value on the item’s loss, or when the item was wrongly taken from the rightful possessor. In the second and third situations, the court will assume that money is not enough or that damages are too hard to calculate, unless the person holding the item proves otherwise.

Official Text

Any person having the possession or control of a particular article of movable property, of which he is not the owner, may be compelled specifically to deliver it to the person entitled to its immediate possession, in any of the following cases:—

(a) when the thing claimed is held by the defendant as the agent or trustee of the plaintiff;

(b) when compensation in money would not afford the plaintiff adequate relief for the loss of the thing claimed;

(c) when it would be extremely difficult to ascertain the actual damage caused by its loss;

(d) when the possession of the thing claimed has been wrongfully transferred from the plaintiff.

Explanation.—Unless and until the contrary is proved, the court shall, in respect of any article of movable property claimed under clause (b) or clause (c) of this section, presume—

(a) that compensation in money would not afford the plaintiff adequate relief for the loss of the thing claimed, or, as the case may be;

(b) that it would be extremely difficult to ascertain the actual damage caused by its loss.