Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 77.djvu/596

 564

PUBLIC LAW 88-241-DEC. 23, 1963

[77 STAT.

SUBCHAPTER II—PROCEEDINGS TO DISCOVER THE DEATH OP A TENANT rOR LIFE Sec. 1<^1151. Petition by person entitled to claim; form and contents. 1(^1152. Order to produce life tenant; service of order. 16-1153. Failure to produce as ordered; subsequent proceedinfi^s; commissioners; presumption of death; right of possession. 16-1154. Investigation outside the District; report to court; presumption of death; right to possession. 16-1155. Restoration of property to life tenant 16-1156. Becovery of profits by person evicted. 16-1157. Preservation of life tenant's rights if living at time of return. 16-1158. Persons holding over after life estate; damages.

Subchapter I—Ejectment §16-1101. Parties defendant; joint tenants and tenants in common (a) A civil action based upon a cause of action in ejectment, may be brought against: (1) the person actually occupying the premises claimed, either in person or by tenant; or (2) both the claimant and his tenant, or other occupant claiming under him; or (3) if the premises are not actually occupied, a person exercising acts of ownership thereon adversely to the plaintiff. When a lessee is made a defendant at the suit of a party claiming against the title of the lessee's landlord, the landlord may appear and be made a party defendant in the place of his lessee. Any person claiming to be in possession may, on motion, be admitted to defend the action. (b) Joint tenants shall sue jointly in ejectment, but tenants in common may sue either jointly or separately, and any number of tenants in common, less than the whole number entitled, may sue jointly in reference to their undivided interests. § 16-1102. Failure of tenant to give notice to landlord If a tenant, on whom a complaint in ejectment is served, fails to give notice thereof, without delay, to his landlord or the agent of the landlord, he shall forfeit and pay to the landlord the value of three years' full rent of the premises, to be recovered by a civil action. § 16-1103. Contents of complaint; adverse possession In his complaint in ejectment, the plaintiff shall: (1) describe the premises claimed with reasonable certainty; and (2) set forth distinctly the nature and quantity of the estate claimed by him in the premises. It is sufficient for the plaintiff to state, in addition, that: (1) he was possessed of the premises, and while he was so possessed the defendant entered wrongfully into possession thereof, and withholds the possession of the premises from the plaintiff, or wrongfully detains possession; or (2) the defendant is wrongfully exercising acts of ownership over the premises. However, except as provided by this chapter, acts of ownership do not amount to an adversary possession, so as to make it necessary for the plaintiff to sue in order to avoid the bar of the statute of limitations.

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