Willcox v. Stroup

Willcox (plaintiff) found Civil War-era documents in his stepmother's home that his family had possessed for about 140 years since the war ended, and after letting the state archives microfilm them, he tried to sell them to a third party. Stroup (defendant), the state archives director, obtained a restraining order blocking the sale, and Willcox sued for a declaratory judgment that he owned the documents.

Whether, when neither party can establish ownership of an object through direct evidence, a court may rely on the common-law presumption that the person in possession is the rightful owner.