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con·ver·sion /kən-'vər-zhən/ n1 a: the act of changing from one form or use to anotherb: the act of exchanging one kind of property for another; esp: the act of exchanging preferred stocks or bonds for shares of common stock of the same company usu. at a preset ratio or price and at a preset timeequitable conversion: the constructive conversion of real property into personal property esp. as a result of a contract for sale of land or testamentary instructions to sell real estate and divide the proceeds◇ Equitable conversion is a legal fiction under which the seller of a real property becomes, upon the execution of a contract for the sale of the property, the owner of personal property in the form of legal title to the property that secures payment of the purchase price. The purchaser is deemed to be the holder of equitable title in and owner of the real property, having the rights and being subject to the liabilities that attend that status. In the case of a will in which a property owner authorizes the sale of real property and distribution of the proceeds, the property transforms into personalty by equitable conversion upon the owner's death.involuntary conversion: the conversion of property into other property as compensation for the theft, destruction, seizure, requisition, or condemnation of the original property◇ For income tax purposes, involuntary conversions are generally taxable, and the gain or loss is computed by offsetting the basis of the property against the compensation received (as from insurance).2: the crime or tort of interfering with the ownership of another's movable or personal property without authorization or justification (as a lien) and esp. of depriving the owner of use and possession see also fraudulent conversion
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam-Webster. 1996.
- conversion
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I
(change) noun
alteration, interchange, metamorphosis, passage, reconstruction, shift, switch, transformation, transition, transmutation
associated concepts: conversion of a security
II
(misappropriation) noun
appropriation, defraudation, deprivation, embezzlement, fraud, larceny, malfeasance, misapplication, misappropriation of funds, misemployment, misuse, peculation, theft, thievery, unauthorized assumption of property, unlawful appropriation, unlawful use of another's property, wrongful assumption, wrongful exercise of dominion
associated concepts: action for conversion, attachment, constructive conversion, conversion by assertion of ownership, conversion of goods, conversion of property, conversion of stock, detinue, fraudulent conversion, innocent conversion, involuntary conversion, larceny by conversion, technical conversion, trover, wrongful conversion
III
index
appropriation (taking), exchange, misappropriation, persuasion, propaganda, reorganization, transition
Burton's Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006
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n.The tort of wrongfully taking another person’s property and assuming ownership of it or preventing the owner from using it.v.convert
The Essential Law Dictionary. — Sphinx Publishing, An imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. Amy Hackney Blackwell. 2008.
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the wrong committed by a dealing with the goods of a person that constitutes an unjustifiable denial of his rights in them or his assertion of rights inconsistent with them. Conversion and trespass overlap. To take away the goods of another will be trespass but also may be conversion. If the taking is temporary, however, and not done to exercise rights over the goods, then there is no conversion. Taking to use the goods is sufficient, it not being necessary to assert ownership over the goods. In English law, it holds that the voluntary receipt by the defendant of the goods from a wrongfully interfering third party is conversion. Abuse of an authorised possession may be conversion – where goods are pawned, for example. Allowing the goods to be stolen through lack of care, being an omission, is not conversion: Ashby v . Tolhurst [1937] 2 KB 242; Tinsley v . Dudley [1951] 2 KB 18. Destruction of the goods or alteration of the goods to another species is conversion. It is not known in Scotland although sometimes similar issues arise: Leitch v. Leydon 1931 SC (HL)1. The closest analogue is spuilzie.It is also a crime in English law, if fraudulent, under the Theft Act 1968.
Collins dictionary of law. W. J. Stewart. 2001.
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The civil wrong (tort) of wrongfully using another's personal property as if it were one's own, holding onto another's property that accidentally comes into one's hands, or purposely giving the impression that the assets of another belong to oneself. The true owner has the right to sue for the property or the value and loss of use of it. The converter can be guilty of the crime of theft.Category: Small Claims Court & Lawsuits
Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary. Gerald N. Hill, Kathleen Thompson Hill. 2009.
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England, WalesA common law tort that was codified by section 2(2) of the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 Act :"An action lies in conversion for loss or destruction of goods which a bailee has allowed to happen in breach of his duty to his bailor (that is to say, it lies in a case which is not otherwise conversion but would have been detinue before detinue was abolished)."Broadly, conversion occurs when a person interferes with the personal property of another, so as to amount to (in the eyes of the law) appropriating the property for himself.+ conversionUSAThe changing of a bankruptcy case from one chapter to another, such as converting from Chapter 11 (reorganization) to Chapter 7 (liquidation) or vice-versa.
Practical Law Dictionary. Glossary of UK, US and international legal terms. www.practicallaw.com. 2010.
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n. In criminal and tort law, the intentional deprivation of another of the benefit and use of his property, without his authorization or lawful justification, by possessing or disposing of the property as if it were one's own or by an act (such as damaging or destroying it) that interferes with or is inconsistent with the owner's right to sue and possess the property.
Webster's New World Law Dictionary. Susan Ellis Wild. 2000.
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Any unauthorized act that deprives an owner of personal property without his or her consent.
Dictionary from West's Encyclopedia of American Law. 2005.
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Any unauthorized act that deprives an owner of personal property without his or her consent.
Short Dictionary of (mostly American) Legal Terms and Abbreviations.
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n.a civil wrong (tort) in which one converts another's property to his/her own use, which is a fancy way of saying "steals." Conversion includes treating another's goods as one's own, holding onto such property which accidentally comes into the convertor's (taker's) hands, or purposely giving the impression the assets belong to him/her. This gives the true owner the right to sue for his/her own property or the value and loss of use of it, as well as going to law enforcement authorities since conversion usually includes the crime of theft.See also: theft
Law dictionary. EdwART. 2013.
