noun
conversion
Unlawful control over another person's personal property.
Selling someone else's property without permission can amount to conversion.
Etymology
Latin vertere supplies the image of turning. Legal conversion turns another person’s property to one’s own use or control, giving the ordinary change-of-use idea a wrongful application.
More examples
- The owner sues the dealer for conversion of her stolen watch.
- Keeping a borrowed laptop after its owner demands it back may constitute conversion.
- A conversion claim can succeed even if the property remains undamaged.
Forms
conversion · conversions
Similar words
- theft
- Requires stealing, while conversion can follow initially lawful possession.
- embezzlement
- Specifically involves fraudulent appropriation of property entrusted to someone's care.