EJECTMENT (Lat. e, out of, jacere, to throw, cast; icere, to cast out, to eject).
In Practice. A form of action by which possessory titles to corporeal hereditaments may be tried and possession obtained.
A form of action which lies to regain the possession of real property, with damages for the unlawful detention.
In its origin, this action was an action of trespass which lay for a tenant for years, to recover damages against a person who had ousted' him of bin posses sion without right. To the judgment for damages the courts soon added a judgment for possession, upon which the plaintiff became entitled to a writ of posaession. As the disadvantages of real actions as a means of recovering lands for the benefit of the real owner from the possession of one who held them without title beoame a serious obstacle to their use, this form of action was taken advantage of by Ch. J. Rolle to accomplish the same result.
In the original action, the plaintiff had been obliged to prove a lease from the person shown to have title, an envy under the ibetee,,and an ouster by sonic third person. The modified action as sanctioned by Rolle was brought by a fictitious person as lessee against another fictitious person (the casual ejector) alleged to have commuted the ouster. Service was made upon the tenant in pos session, with a notice annexed from the casual ejector to appeal and defend. If the tenant failed to do this, judgment was given by default and the claimant put in possession. If he did appear, ho was allowed to defend only by entering into the consent rule, by which he confessed the fictitious lease, entry, and ouster to have been made, leaving only the title in question. The tenant by a subse quent statute was obliged, under heavy penalties, to give notice to his lessor of the pendency of the action.
The action has been superseded its England by a form prescribed by the Common Law Procedure Act (1852, ne 170-220), and has been materially modified in many of the states of the United States, though still retaining the name; but is retained in its original form in others, and in the United States courts for those states in which it existed when the circuit courts were organize& In some of the United States it has never been in use. See 3
Sharswood, Blsckst. Comm. 2. The action lies for the recovery of cor poreal hereditaments only, 7 Watts, 318 ; 5 Denio, N. Y. 389; including a room in a house, 1 Harris, N. J. 202, upon which there may have been an entry and of which the sheriff' can deliver possession to the plaintiff, 9 Johns. N. Y. 298 ; 18 Barb. N. Y. 484; 15 Conn. 137; and not for incorporeal heredita ment.% 2 Yeates, Penn. 331 ; 3 Green, N. J. 191 : as, rights of dower, 17 Johns. N. Y. 167; 10 Serg. & R. Penn. 326, a right of way, N. Chipm. Vt. 204, a rent reserved. 5 Denio, N. Y. 477. See 20 Miss. 373.
3. It may be brought upon a right to an estate in fee-simple, fee-tarl, for life, or for years, if only there be a right of entry and possession• in the plaintiff, 5 Ohio, 28 ; 2 Mo. 163 ; 10 id. 229 ; 2 Gill & J. Md. 173 ; 10 id. 443 ; 1 Wash. C. C. 207 ; 4 id. 691 ; 1 Blackf. Ind. 133 ; 1 Dev. & B. No. C. 586 ; 3 Dan. Ky. 289 ; 1 Johns. Cas. N. Y. 125 ; 3 Ga. 105 ; 4 Gratt. Va. 129 ; 15 Ala. 412 ; 17 III. 288; 2 N. J. 376 ; 4 Cat. VS; 5 id. 310 ; 32 Penn. St. 376 ; but the title be illegal one, 2 Wash. C. C. 33 ; 3 id. 546 ; 10 Johns. N. Y. 368 ; 3 Barb. N. Y. 554 ; 1 Blackf. Ind. 22, 29 ; 7 id. 247 ; 3 Harr. & J. Md. 155; 4 Vt. 105.; 4Conn. 95 ; 3 Litt. Ky. 32; 13 Miss. 499 ; 4 Graft. Va. 129 ; 1 Chandl. Wise. 52, which existed at the commencement of the suit, 5 Harr. & J. Md. 155 ; 4 Vt. 105 ; 5 Watts & S. Penn. 427 ; 23 Miss. 100 ; 13 III. 251 ; 25 Miss. 177 ; 20 Barb. N. Y. 559, at the date of the demise, 3 A. K. Marsh. Ky. 131 ; 4 id. 388 ; 2 Dev. & B. No. C. 97 ; 3 McLean, C. C. 302; 11 Mo. 481; 11 Ill. 547; 12 Ga. 166; 21 How. 481, and at the time of trial, 2 B. Monr. Ky. 95 ; 12 id. 32 ;, 20 Vt. 83 ; 9 Gill, Md. '269, and must be actually against the person having possession. 7 Term, 327 ; 1 Bos. & P. 573 ; 1 Dev. & B. No. C. 5 ;, 3 Hawks, No, C. 479 ; 4 Dan. Ky. 67; 17 Vt. 674; 26 id. 662; 9 Humphr. Tenn. 137 ; 4 McLean, C. C. 255 ; 8 Barb. N. Y. 244.