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A Treatise on the Principles and Practice of the Action of Ejectment
A Treatise on the Principles and Practice of the Action of Ejectment Author:John Adams Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: the grantor himself, he was then, notwithstanding the breach of the original contract, enabled to recover only damages for the injury he had sustained, but had n... more »o means of regaining possession of the land from which he had been ousted.(a) So regardless, however, was the law, during the first ages after the Conquest, of grants of this nature, that until the time of King Henry III. this writ of covenant remained the sole remedy of the grantee, even upon a breach of the grant. In that reign, the first symptoms of a more enlightened policy appeared; and, by the wisdom of the Court and council, a full remedy was provided for a termor, who was dispossessed of his land by any person whomsoever, claiming under the title of the grantor.(a) The writ invented for this purpose was, according to Bracton,(a) called the writ of quare ejecit infra terminum, and required the defendant to show wherefore he deforced the plaintiff of certain lands, which A. had demised to him for a term then unexpired, within which [4] term the said A. sold the lands to the defendant, by reason of which sale the defendant ejected the plaintiff therefrom. The language, indeed, used by Bracton,(a) when speaking of this writ, may, at first sight, induce an opinion that it was intended as a general remedy against all persons, even strangers, who ejected a lessee ; and this interpretation has been adopted by a learned writer on the English law.(6) On a minute investigation, however, it will appear that Bracton meant only to include the grantor himself, or persons claiming under him. One passage certainly militates against this conclusion, " Si autem alius guam qui tradidit e/ecerit, si hoc fecerit cum AI'TORITATE et VOLUNTATE Iradentis, uterque tenetur hoc juditio, unsts propter factum, et alius propter autoritat...« less