If any forcible or unlawful entry be made upon lands, or if, when the entry is lawful and peaceable, the tenant shall detain the possession of land after the right has expired, without the consent of him who is entitled to the possession, the party so turned out of possession, no matter what right of title he had thereto, or the party against whom such possession is unlawfully detained may file a motion for judgment in the circuit court alleging that the defendant is in possession and unlawfully withholds from the plaintiff the premises in question.
Va. Code Ann. § 8.01-124
Motion for judgment in circuit court for unlawful entry or detainer
Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case 577 F. Supp. 1483 - Cooper v. Tazewell Square Apartments, Ltd. (1984)
Most recently applied in Seitz v. Federal National Mortgage Ass'n (November 2012)
Code 1950, § 8-789; 1954, c. 549; 1975, c. 235; 1977, c. 617.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Virginia Law Portal (LIS). Reproduced from public-domain Virginia statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.