Forcible Entry or Detainer

Forcible Entry or Detainer, ^* crim. law. An offence committed by unlawfully and violently taking or keeping possession of lands and tenements, with menaces, force and, arms, and without the authority of law. Com. Dig. h. t.

2. The proceedings in case of forcible entry or detainer, are regulated by statute in the several states. ( q. v.) The offence is generally punished by indictment. 4 Bl. Com. 148 Russ. on Cr. 283. A forcible entry and a forcible detainer, are distinct offences. 1 Serg. & Rawle, 124; 8 Cowen, 226.

3. In the civil and French law, a similar remedy is given for thing offence. The party injured has two actions, a criminal or a civil. The action is called actio interdictum undevie. In French, l'action reintegrande. Poth. Proc. Civ. Partie 2, c. 3, art. 3; 11 Toull. Nos. 123, 134, 135, 137, pp. 179, 180, 182, and, generally, from p. 163. Vide, generally, 3 Pick. 31; 3 Halst. R. 48; 2 Tyler's R. 64; 2 Root's R. 411; Id . 472; 4 Johns. R. 150; 8 Johns. R. 44; 10 Johns. R. 304; 1 Caines' R. 125; 2 Caines' R. 98; 9 Johns. R. 147; 2 Johns. Cas. 400; 6 Johns. R. 334; 2 Johns. R. 27; 3 Caines' R. 104; 11 John. R. 504; 12 John. R. 31; 13 Johns. R. 158; Id. 340; 16 Johns. R. 141; 8 Cowen, 226; 1 Coxe's R. 258; Id. 260; 1 South. R. 125; 1 Halst. R. 396; 3 Id. 48; 4 Id. 37; 6 Id. 84; 1 Yeates, 501; Addis. R. 14, 17, 43, 316, 355; 3 Serg. & Rawle, 418; 3 Yeates, 49; 4 Dall. 212; 4 Yeates, 326; 3 Harr. & Mchen. 428; 2 Bay, R. 355; 2 Nott & Mccord, 121; 1 Const. R. 325; Cam. & Norw. 337, 340; Com. Dig. h. t.; Vin. &b. h. t.; Bac. Ab. h. t.; 2 Chit. Pr. 281 to 241.

4. The civil law punished even the owner of an estate, in proportion to the violence used, when he forcibly took possession of it, a fortiori, a stranger. Domat, Supp. au Dr. Pub. 1. 3, t. 4, s. 3.

^* From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1856 Edition. Please see Bouvier's Legal Abbreviations & Abbreviated References for help with obscure nomenclature & references.