TSEM6007 - Legal background to trusts & estates: the law in England & Wales - personalty (personal property)
Personal property is owned, and consists of chattels real and chattels personal. There are details at TSEM6015.
If a person claims he has been deprived of personal property, the defendant can either
- return the property; or
- pay damages.
The plaintiff has no automatic right to the return of the thing (res).
The action is against the particular person who allegedly wronged the plaintiff. This is a right ‘in personam’ as opposed to a right ‘in rem’.