User Contributed Dictionary
Noun
- A casting out.
- A species of mixed action, which lies for the recovery of possession of real property, and damages and costs for the wrongful withholding of it.
Synonyms
- sense casting out ejection
References
Extensive Definition
- This article is about the Common Law form of action. For a fuller discussion of modern proceedings, see Eviction.
Ejectment in the common law
term for civil action to recover the possession of and title to
land. It replaced the old Real Actions
as well as the various possessory assizes. Though still used in
some places, the term is now obsolete in many common law
jurisdictions, in which possession and title are contested via the
actions of eviction and
quiet
title, respectively.
Originally, an ejectment was concerned with the
recovery of possession of land, for example against a defaulting
tenant or a trespasser, who did not have
(or no longer had) any right to remain there. It has continued to
be used for this, though in some jurisdictions the terminology has
changed.
The old Real Actions, which were concerned with
the title to land, were found to be over-technical and difficult to
use. The practice thus developed of trying the title to ownership
of land, by means of an ejectment. The practice was for the
claimant to grant a lease to a friend and later to a fictitious
person (such as John Doe). An
action was brought in the name of this tenant often against another
fictitious person (often Richard Roe) who
had allegedly evicted him. A letter was then sent in his name to
the real defendant, inviting him to defend the case on behalf of
his supposed tenant (a fictitious
defendant). The true defendant's right to appear depended on
the existence of the fictitious lease (whose existence he thus
could not deny). This enabled rights of the true claimant and
defendant to be litigated. Such fictitious actions have been
abolished in many jurisdictions as a result of the provision of
alternative remedies.