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SECTION VIII.

REMEDIES.

5 RICH. II. ST. 1 (1381), c. 7. And also the King defendeth, That none from henceforth make any entry into any lands and tenements, but in case where entry is given by the law; and in such case not with strong hand, nor with multitude of people, but only in peaceable and easy manner. And if any man from henceforth do to the contrary, and thereof be duly convict, he shall be punished by imprisonment of his body and thereof ransomed at the King's will.1

3 BL. COм. 117, 118. Personal actions are such whereby a man claims a debt, or personal duty, or damages in lieu thereof: and, likewise, whereby a man claims a satisfaction in damages for some injury done to his person or property. The former are said to be founded on contracts, the latter upon torts or wrongs: and they are the same which the civil law calls actiones in personam quæ adversus eum intenduntur, qui ex contractu vel delicto obligatus est aliquid dare vel concedere." Of the former nature are all actions upon debt or promises; of the latter all actions for trespasses, nuisances, assaults, defamatory words, and the like.

Real actions (or, as they are called in the Mirror. feodal actions), which concern real property only, are such whereby the plaintiff, here called the demandant, claims title to have any lands or tenements, rents, commons, or other hereditaments, in fee-simple, fee-tail, or for term of life. By these actions formerly all disputes concerning real estates were decided; but they are now pretty generally laid aside in practice, upon account of the great nicety required in their management, and the inconvenient length of their process: a much more expeditious method of trying titles being since introduced, by other actions personal and mixed.

Mixed actions are suits partaking of the nature of the other two, wherein some real property is demanded, and also personal damages for a wrong sustained. As for instance an action of waste which is brought by him who hath the inheritance, in remainder or reversion, against the tenant for life, who hath committed waste therein, to recover not only the land wasted, which would make it merely a real action; but also treble damages, in pursuance of the Statute of Gloucester, which is a personal recompense; and so both, being joined together, denominate it a mixed action.

1 See St. 8 Hen. VI. c. 9.

1 ROSCOE, REAL ACTIONS, 3. The following table exhibits a view of the various species of real actions: :

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ST. 52 HEN. III., ST. OF MARLEBRIDGE (1267), c. 29. It is provided also, That if those alienations (whereupon a writ of entry was wont to be granted) hap to be made in so many degrees, that by reason thereof the same writ cannot be made in the form beforetime used, the plaintiffs shall have a writ to recover their seisin, without making mention of the degrees, into whose hands so ever the same thing shall happen to come by such alienations, and that by an original writ to be provided therefor by the Council of our Lord the King. Co. LIT. 238 b. "Writ of entry sur disseisin." Breve de ingressu super disseisinam. This writ lieth only upon a disseisin made to the demandant or to some of his ancestors, and of this writ there be four kinds. The first is a writ that lieth for the disseisee against the disseisor upon a disseisin done by himself, and this is called a writ of entry in the nature of an assise. The second is a writ of entrie sur disseisin en le per, whereof Littleton here speaketh, for the heir by descent is in the per by his ancestor: so it is if the disseisor make a feoffment in fee, a gift in tail, or a lease for life, for they are in the per by the disseisor. The third is a writ of entrie sur disseisin en le per & cui; as where A. being the feoffee of D. the disseisor maketh a feoffment over to B. there the disseisee shall have a writ of entry sur disseisin of lands, &c. in which B. had no entry but by A. to whom D. demised the same, who unjustly and without judgment disseised the demandant. These are called gradus, degrees, which are to be observed, or else the writ is abatable; for sicut natura non facit saltum, ita nec lex.

The fourth is a writ of entrie sur disseisin in le post, which lieth when after a disseisin the land is removed from hand to hand beyond the degrees; and it is called in le post, because the words of the writ be, post disseisinam quam D, injuste, &c. fecit, &c.1

Proceedings on an Action of Trespass in Ejectment, by Original, in the King's Bench.

SECT. 1. The Original Writ.

George the Second, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, to the Sheriff of Berkshire, greeting. If Richard Smith shall give you security of prosecuting his claim, then put by gage and safe pledges William Stiles, late of Newbury, gentleman, so that he be before us on the morrow of AllSouls, wheresoever we shall then be in England, to show wherefore with force and arms he entered into one messuage, with the appurtenances, in Sutton, which John Rogers, Esquire, hath demised to the

1 By St. 3 & 4 Wm. 4, c. 27, § 36, no real or mixed action, “except a writ of right of dower, or writ of dower unde nihil habet, or a quare impedit or an ejectment," is to be brought after the year 1834.

aforesaid Richard, for a term which is not yet expired, and ejected him from his said farm, and other enormities to him did, to the great damage of the said Richard, and against our peace. And have you there the names of the pledges and this writ. Witness ourself at Westminster, the twelfth day of October, in the twenty-ninth year of our reign. John Doe. Pledges of prosecution,

{

Richard Roe.

The within-named William Stiles

is attached by pledges,

John Den.

Richard Fen.

SECT. 2. Copy of the Declaration against the casual Ejector, who gives Notice thereupon to the Tenant in Possession.

}

Michaelmas, the 29th of King George the Second.

Berks, William Stiles, late of Newbury in the said county, gento wit. tleman, was attached to answer Richard Smith, of a plea, wherefore with force and arms he entered into one messuage, with the appurtenances, in Sutton in the county aforesaid, which John Rogers, Esquire, demised to the said Richard Smith for a term which is not yet expired, and ejected him from his said farm, and other wrongs to him did, to the great damage of the said Richard, and against the peace of the Lord the King, &c. And whereupon the said Richard by Robert Martin his attorney complains, that whereas the said John Rogers, on the first day of October, in the twenty-ninth year of the reign of the Lord the King that now is, at Sutton aforesaid, had demised to the same Richard the tenement aforesaid, with the appurtenances, to have and to hold the said tenement, with the appurtenances, to the said Richard and his assigns, from the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel then last past, to the end and term of five years from thence next following and fully to be complete and ended, by virtue of which demise the said Richard entered into the said tenement, with the appurtenances, and was thereof possessed; and the said Richard being so possessed thereof, the said William afterwards, that is to say, on the said first day of October in the said twenty-ninth year, with force and arms, that is to say, with swords, staves, and knives, entered into the said tenement, with the appurtenances, which the said John Rogers demised to the said Richard in form aforesaid for the term aforesaid, which is not yet expired, and ejected the said Richard out of his said farm, and other wrongs to him did, to the great damage of the said Richard, and against the peace of the said Lord the King; whereby the said Richard saith, that he is injured and damaged to the value of twenty pounds. And thereupon he brings suit, &c.

Martin, for the plaintiff.

Peters, for the defendant.

MR. GEORGE SAUNDERS,

John Doe.

Pledges of Prosecution,

Richard Roe.

I am informed that you are in possession of, or claim title to, the

premises mentioned in this declaration of ejectment, or to some part thereof; and I, being sued in this action as a casual ejector, and having no claim or title to the same, do advise you to appear next Hilary Term in his Majesty's Court of King's Bench at Westminster, by some attorney of that court, and then and there, by a rule to be made of the same court, to cause yourself to be made defendant in my stead; otherwise I shall suffer judgment to be entered against me, and you will be turned out of possession.

5th January, 1756.

Your loving friend,

SECT. 3. The Rule of Court.

WILLIAM STILES.

Hilary Term, in the twenty-ninth Year of King George the Second.

}

Berks, It is ordered by the court, by the assent of both parties, to wit, and their attornies, that George Saunders, Gentleman, may be made defendant, in the place of the now defendant, William Stiles, and shall immediately appear to the plaintiff's action, and shall receive a declaration in a plea of trespass and ejectment of the tenements in question, and shall immediately plead thereto Not Guilty: and, upon the trial of the issue, shall confess lease, entry, and ouster, and insist upon his title only. And if upon the trial of the issue, the said George do not confess lease, entry, and ouster, and by reason thereof the plaintiff cannot prosecute his writ, then the taxation of costs upon such non pros. shall cease, and the said George shall pay such costs to the plaintiff, as by the Court of our Lord the King here shall be taxed and adjudged, for such his default in non-performance of this rule; and judgment shall be entered against the said William Stiles, now the casual ejector, by default. And it is further ordered, that if upon the trial of the said issue a verdict shall be given for the defendant, or if the plaintiff shall not prosecute his writ upon any other cause than for the not confessing lease, entry, and ouster as aforesaid, then the lessor of the plaintiff shall pay costs, if the plaintiff himself doth not pay them. By the Court.

Martin, for the plaintiff,

Newman, for the defendant.

NOTE. The above form of beginning an action of ejectment is taken from the Appendix to the Third Volume of Blackstone's Commentaries. The later proceedings are omitted.

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