whether the chattel was bailed or whether the defendant found it in the road. The plea simply amounted to an assumption that the chattels had come into the hands of the defendant (devenerunt ad manus), and were wrongfully withheld from the plaintiff. Detinue sur trover During the fifteenth century, this plea gave rise to a special form of the action of detinue known as "detinue sur trover" which should be distinguished from the action of "trespass on the case sur trover". The latter would be shortened into simple trover. Littleton remarked that the count or plea of "per interventionem (sur trover) was a newfound halliday." The action probably represents the development of a simpler form of pleading in which it was unnecessary to allege by what means the chattel had come into the defendant's hands. Nevertheless, the counts sur bailment and sur trover seem to have had the effect of drawing a distinction between two forms of action, detinue sur trover and detinue sur bailment. This distinction represented the recognition of the two forms of wrongful detention: one based on a purely tortious wrong and the other connected with an agreement between the parties. Detinue sur trover is of greater interest in tort because it covers a more general field. It was distinguished from trespass since it did not involve any interference with the physical possession of the plaintiff. It did not depend on a failure to fulfill a condition to return the chattel which had been delivered to the defendant. There was no necessity for an agreement between the parties. There were certain defects in detinue sur trover. Wager of law was a possible defense in certain kinds of cases. Wager of law involved the use by a defendant of witnesses, some of whom may have had no knowledge of the case to testify. If a large number of these "witnesses" testified, the defendant would prevail. It was a form of sanctioned perjury. The courts began to severely limit wager of law by the middle of the fourteenth century. No action lay where the chattel was returned but in a damaged or impaired condition. In 1478, Catesby said, "And in the same manner I deliver my robes to you to keep for me and you wear them so that they perish, I shall have an action of detinue for in all these cases the property is not altered, and