Also known as: autre-droit · right of another
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A Law French phrase denoting action or holding in the right of another. It identifies the capacity in which a fiduciary such as a trustee or executor asserts or defends property rights on behalf of a beneficiary or estate.
Evelyn, as executor of her uncle's estate, learns that HarborPoint accepted and appraised rare coins removed from the estate safe. She sues HarborPoint asserting the estate's ownership rights. Evelyn proceeds in autre droit because the coins belong to the estate she represents.
Daniel stored jet skis at Harbor View Marina. The marina sold them outright to Coastal Rides without authority. Daniel sues the marina for conversion. He asserts his own ownership rights directly rather than in autre droit.
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Children of a prior marriage sue in a territorial court to recover real estate. They assert title through their mother who held rights under an earlier marriage. The claim proceeds in autre droit because the children stand in their mother's position.
A plaintiff sues in autre droit when acting as a fiduciary such as an executor or trustee to enforce rights belonging to the estate or beneficiary. The capacity determines whose ownership interest is asserted and whose control was interfered with.
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No. The elements remain the same. The defendant is still liable for intentional dominion that seriously interferes with the right of the person or entity whose interest the fiduciary represents.
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No. Good faith does not defeat liability. Receiving and using property from someone lacking authority to transfer it still constitutes the required dominion over the true owner's chattel.
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…of our basic tort law. The former alleviated the harsh common-law rule under which “no person could inherit the personal right of another to recover for tortious injuries to his body”;[^maj-10] the latter removed difficult obstacles to recovery in work-related injuries by offering a more certain, though generally less…