GLOSSARY
Conversion definition
What does Conversion mean?
An agent who acquires possession of goods or securities which do not belong to the principal and deals with them wrongfully (for example, by selling them) is responsible for conversion and liable to account to their owner for their value.
This is so even where the agent receives them in good faith, believing them to belong to the principal, and deals with them in accordance with the principal's instructions. The agent should therefore insist on satisfactory evidence of title before dealing. However, an action in conversion will not lie where the agent does not purport to dispose of the property in goods or securities.
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