Greeley v. Spratt

Citations

• 19 Fla. 644

Syllabus

<p>1. In proceedings under the act relating to forcible entry and detainer, upon a complaint for a forcible entry and withholding, the peaceable possession of complainant and the entry by force by the defendant and putting and keejiing complainant out and damages therefor, arc the questions in issue.</p> <p>2. The law forbids a forcible entry whether defendant has title or right of possession or not; in this proceeding there can be no inquiry into the title. If the party entering has a right to the possession and another is in peaceable possession the party having the right must resort to the law to obtain it, unless he can do so without force and in a peaceable, open manner.</p> <p>3. Testimony showing that plaintiff had been in possession of a room for several weeks occupying it as an office with his library and furniture, and that his property was, without his consent, in the ■night time, removed from the room by the defendant’s directions, and plaintiff was by force prevented by defendant’s servant from re-entering, and another person was put by defendant in possession as a tenant, is sufficient to sustain a complaint for forcible entry and unlawful detainer ; and the complaint having been filed within a few days after such ejection and occupancy by the tenant, such facts afford presumptive evidence upon which the jury are authorized to find that the defendant continued to hold x>ossession against plaintiff at the time of filing the complaint, there being nothing to show that defendant or bis tenant ceased to occupy the premises so taken possession of.</p> <p>4. When the plaintiff had peaceably occupied premises for several weeks and is dispossessed by force without process of law by defendant, it is not material, in a proceeding for forcible entry and detainer, whether the plaintiff was originally a trespasser or that defendant may have a legal right to the possession. The gist of the proceeding under the statute is the forcible entry and ousting-plaintiff' fro