§  805.  From  this  description  of  the  process  of  interpleader
at  thje  Common  Law,  it  is  obvious  that  it  could  afford  a  very
imperfect  remedy  in  a  great  variety  of  cases.  Indeed,  as  the
action  of  detinue  has,  in  modern  times,  fallen  much  into  disuse,
and  ]the  action  of  trover  has  been  substituted  in  its  stead,  (in
which  interpleadet  did  not  lie  at  the  Common  Law,)  little  or
no  practical  advMtoge  could  be  derived  from  it  in  modern
times.^  The  oiwKmedy,  therefore,  now  jesorted  to,  (as  we
are  informed  from  very  high  authority,)  for  the  relief  of  a
person  sued,  or  in  danger  of  being  sued,  by  several  claimants
of  the  same  property,  is  that  of  filing  a  bill  to  compel  them,
by  the  authority  of  a  Court  of  Equity,  to  interplead,  either  at
Law  or  in  Equity.*,


1  3  Keeves,  Hist,  of  the  Ejjdish  Law,  ch.  23,  p.  448,  452.  '

23  Eeevea,  Hist,  of  the  E™sh  Law,  eh.  23,  p.  433,  454.  See  Rich  v.  Aldred,
,  6  Mod.  216  ;  Story  on  Bailments,  §  111,  112.
3  Coo^,  Eq.  PI.  if,  48,  49  ;  Mitf.  Eq;  PI.,  by  Jeremy,  p.  48,  and  note  H. ;
Id.  141,  142.
*  The  reader  is  referred  to  the  able  report  of  the  Common-Law  Commission-
ers, made  to  Parliament,  and  printed  by  the  order  of  the  House  of  Commons,
in  March,  1830,  (p.  24,)  for  further  information  on  this  subject.  Mr.  Reeves
has,  in  his  History  of  the  English  Law  (Vol.  HL  p.  448  to  455,)  brought  to-
gether some  of  the  cases  of  difficulty  in  the  proceedings' of  interpleader  at' the
Common  Law,^  They  abundantly  show  the  inadequacy  of  the  remedy.  Mr.
