Action of ejectment
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 68 U.S. 371 - Hardy v. Johnson · 1863Most cited · 34 citing opinions
The action of ejectment determines no rights but those of present possession
How the Supreme Court has restated “Action of ejectment”
Each Supreme Court definition of “Action of ejectment,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “Action of ejectment”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “Action of ejectment” — 68 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 3 definitions, chronological · 1850–1866
- ORIGINAL
The action of ejectment is a possessory action, invented by the courts to try possessory titles, unembarrassed by the difficulties attendant upon real actions. The declaration is a fiction, the plaintiff's name is fictitious, the defendant's name is fictitious, the lease is a fiction, the casual ejector's name is fictitious; yet all these fictions have been regulated and moulded by courts and by legislation into a system, governed by known and established principles, well adapted to the purposes of substantial justice.
The action of ejectment was devised for a lessee of a term of years, who was ousted of his term, and who, having but a chattel interest, could not support a real action to recover possession. It was but an action of trespass in effect, and the remedy was in damages only for the dispossession. But afterward the court determined the lessee should not only recover damages, but also his term, which soon brought the action into general use; and, by the formal scaffolding of a lease, entry, and ouster, the action was converted into a method of trying, collaterally and incidentally, the title of the lessor.