Chapter 247

Section 1. A person whose beasts have been distrained or impounded in order to recover a penalty or forfeiture supposed to have been incurred by their going at large or to obtain satisfaction for damages alleged to have been done by them may cause them to be replevied.

Section 10. If the goods when replevied had been taken on execution, or if they had been attached and judgment is afterward rendered for the attaching creditor, and if in either case the service of the execution is delayed by reason of the replevin, the damages to be assessed for…

Section 11. Money recovered by an officer in an action of replevin for goods attached or taken on execution by him or recovered by him in an action upon the replevin bond shall be applied as follows: First, To pay the lawful fees and charges of the officer and the reasonable expe…

Section 12. All amounts received by such creditor from the proceeds of the sale of goods attached or taken on execution and afterward returned, or received by him for the value of goods not returned, or recovered from the officer for the insufficiency of the sureties on the bond,…

Section 13. If the court finds that the goods were unlawfully taken or attached or unlawfully detained by the defendant, the plaintiff shall have judgment for his damages caused thereby and for costs.

Section 14. Sureties on a replevin bond may be approved in writing by the officer who serves the writ or by the defendant or by a justice of a district court or by a master in chancery, and, if approved otherwise than by the officer, he shall not be responsible for their sufficie…

Section 15. If such sureties are to be approved by a justice of a district court or by a master in chancery, the officer who serves the writ shall give written notice to the defendant or to the person from whose custody the property has been taken, stating the time and place of h…

Section 16. The fee of the master for the hearing and decision shall be as prescribed in section twenty-three of chapter two hundred and sixty-two; and, if the bond is approved, such fee shall be taxed in the plaintiff's costs, if he prevails in the action.

Section 17. An action of replevin shall not be dismissed by reason of a defect in the form or substance of the bond taken therein, if the court is satisfied that such bond was intended in good faith as a compliance with the law requiring a bond to be taken before service of the w…

Section 18. An action shall not be maintained against a surety on a replevin bond, unless the writ is served on him within one year after the final judgment in the action of replevin. If the writ of replevin is not entered, an action on the bond shall not be maintained against a …

Section 19. Damages in replevin shall be assessed by the jury by which the cause is tried, if there is a trial by jury; otherwise, by the court or by a jury impanelled therefor.

Section 2. Before the officer serving the writ delivers the beasts to the plaintiff, he shall take from the plaintiff or a person in his behalf a bond payable to the defendant in a sum equal to double the value of the beasts, with sufficient sureties, conditioned to prosecute the…

Section 20. If the goods replevied had been attached, they shall, upon a judgment for a return, be held liable to the attachment until final judgment in the action in which they were attached, and for thirty days thereafter, so that they may be taken on execution. If such final j…

Section 21. The writ of return in actions of replevin shall be substantially in the form heretofore established and used in like cases.

Section 22. The foregoing provisions shall not preclude the defendant from his remedy on the replevin bond, nor, except as provided in section fourteen, from his remedy against the officer for the insufficiency of the sureties on the bond, to recover the value of the goods and th…

Section 3. The writ shall require that the bond be given for double the value of the beasts but shall not express the amount for which it shall be given. If the parties do not agree as to the value of the beasts, it shall be ascertained by three disinterested appraisers, who shal…

Section 4. The officer shall return such bond with the writ to the court to which the writ is returnable, for the use of the defendant; and he shall include in his return, endorsed on the writ, a certificate of the appointment of the appraisers, of the appraisal and of the expens…

Section 5. If the court finds that the beasts were lawfully taken or distrained, the defendant shall have judgment for the amount found to be due from the plaintiff for the penalty or forfeiture or for the damages for which the beasts were impounded, with the legal fees, costs, c…

Section 6. If the court finds that the beasts were unlawfully taken or distrained, the plaintiff shall have judgment for damages caused by such taking and detaining and for costs.

Section 7. If goods exceeding twenty dollars in value are unlawfully taken or detained from the owner or person entitled to their possession, or if goods of that value, which have been attached on mesne process or taken on execution, are claimed by a person other than the defenda…

Section 8. Except as otherwise provided in section thirty-seven of chapter two hundred and fifty-five, before the officer serving the writ delivers the goods to the plaintiff, he shall take from the plaintiff or a person in his behalf a bond payable to the defendant in a sum equa…

Section 9. If the court finds that the defendant is entitled to a return of the goods, judgment shall be rendered therefor and for the damages caused by the taking by the replevin and for costs.