THE DECLARATORY JUDGMENT AS AN EXCLUSIVE OR ALTERNATIVE REMEDY

In a recent Michigan case the seller of a boiler, claiming a chattel mortgage therein for the unpaid purchase price, brought an action against the person who had bought the boiler at a bankruptcy sale of the property of the original buyer for a declaration that the plaintiff had the right to possession, or in the alternative, that the defendant was under a duty to pay the balance of the original purchase price. The defendant claimed to be the owner free of the mortgage. A majority of the Michigan Supreme Court, on its own motion, for the propriety of the proceeding was not questioned by the parties, dismissed without prejudice a judgment of the lower court in the plaintiff's favor on the ground that "the proper action is replevin. The proceeding for declaratory judgment is not a substitute nor alternative for the common law actions."