EVICTION (Lat. eeictio, from evictus, p.p. of cvinccre, from ex, out -I-- vincere, to conquer). The expulsion or removal of a tenant from the possession of a real property either by his land lord or by another acting under a paramount title. The term was formerly confined to dis possession by legal process, but it is now applied to every form of dispossession under a title su perior to that of the person evicted. Disturb ance of possession by a stranger, i.e. by one hav ing no title to the lands in question, is not an eviction, but a trespass, punishable by a tort action. An eviction, on the other hand, whether rightful or wrongful, is not a trespass, and is not punishable as for a wrong. Its effect is confined to the dissolution or modification of the relation of landlord and tenant between the lessor and lessee.
An eviction by a landlord of a tenant at will or at sufferance, or of a tenant who has forfeited his estate by the commission of waste, or by the breach of any condition on which the lease de pended, is the normal and proper mode of ter minating the relation between the parties. The eviction operates ipso facto to determine the tenancy. A similar act of dispossession of one wrongfully in possession of property by the right ful owner is not an eviction, but is more prop erly described as a reentry. (See ENTRY, RIGHT OF.) When, however. the person so in possession claims under a lease from a third person, the process may. from his standpoint and in relation to his landlord, be an eviction. lts effect is to terminate the lease and to set the tenant free from his obligations to his landlord. It is an eviction by paramount title. If the eviction in this ease be only partial, however, i.e. from part and not the whole of the premises, the tenant may still be liable to his landlord for so much of the premises as remains in his possession.
On the other hand, if the tenant be unlawfully evicted by his landlord, it is immaterial whether the evietion be total or partial. A lease of land carries with it an implied covenant for the quiet enjoyment of the demised premises (i.e. a cove nant that the tenant shall not be disturbed by an nnlaWful eviction by his landlord or by para mount title), and rests upon the condition that this covenant shall be observed. Any willful eviction from any part of the premises by the landlord's act is a breach of this condition and entitles the tenant to avoid the lease and refuse to pay rent, even though his possession of part of the premises is undisturbed. In this ease,
however, if the tenant remain in possession of a part of the premises. the rent is only suspended, and he may become liable under the lease again, if he is restored to the part from which he has 'been evicted.
Strictly speaking, eviction involves the notion of an actual forcible removal or exclusion from the premises held IT a tenant, and at cminnon law nothing less than this would protect him against the claims of his landlord under the lease. This rigid rule has been modified in two particulars in certain of the United States. In Massachusetts and a few other States it has been held that when the premises are claimed by para. mount title the tenant is not bound to await a forcible removal, but may yield to a demand for possession made on the premises. In New York it has been held that the landlord may effect an unlawful eviction, and thus release his tenant from his obligations under the lease, without any physical interference, by the process known as a 'constructive eviction.' This consists of a nuisance willfully maintained by the landlord, either upon or in close proximity to the tenant's premises, of such a character as to deprive the tenant of his rightful enjoyment of them and force him to abandon them, This doctrine has also been applied to a variety of acts or omis sions by a landlord which do not come under the ordinary description of a nuisance, such as the refusal of the proprietor of an apartment house to furnish the heat or the elevator service stipu lated in the lease. The courts have, upon the contrary, refused to carry the principle to the extent of permitting a tenant to claim a con structive eviction and abandon the premises be cause of the landlord's failure to make promised repairs, even though the premises are rendered untenautable by such failure.
The rights accruing to a tenant under an evic tion may usually be supplemented by a right of action against the landlord for damages. and the tenant may recover under the covenant of quiet enjoyment from the lessor the damages sus tained by him as the result of the breach. See LANDLORD AND TENANT, and the authorities there cited.