Davidson v. Ewing

61 Pa. D. & C. 117, 1947 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 345
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County
DecidedAugust 13, 1947
Docketno. 2345
StatusPublished

This text of 61 Pa. D. & C. 117 (Davidson v. Ewing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davidson v. Ewing, 61 Pa. D. & C. 117, 1947 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 345 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1947).

Opinion

Marshall, J.,

— Plaintiffs, Jack Davidson and Alice M. Davidson, entered these proceedings in an action of ejectment against Mary Ewing, to show cause why defendant should not be [118]*118evicted from the premises, known as Apartment No. 10, 1010 Western Avenue, N. S., Pittsburgh, Pa., which defendant holds under an oral lease, from week to week.

On June 25,1946, the Office of Price Administration, Pittsburgh Rent Division, after conferences with both plaintiffs and defendant, advised defendant by written letter that the landlord would be free to proceed with eviction of the tenant if the tenant did not vacate by July 15,1946.

Plaintiffs aver that defendant, Mary Ewing, despite said notice, has remained in possession of the premises.

On July 16, 1946, tenant was personally served with notice again to vacate from the premises on or before August 16,1946, giving her an additional 30 days to remove from the premises.

Plaintiffs aver that defendant, despite said, second notice, has remained in possession of the premises under said week-to-week lease and renewal, and aver further that the right of possession is in plaintiffs.

Defendant, Mary Ewing, has refused and still refuses to deliver up quiet and peaceable possession of the premises. In addition to the notices mentioned previous, plaintiffs made oral demands of defendant, Mary Ewing, to deliver up the premises and said defendant, Mary Ewing, has refused or failed or otherwise neglected to do so.

After service upon defendant and return thereof by the Sheriff of Allegheny County, defendant entered an appearance and filed an answer, as follows:

“Defendant, reserving unto herself all manner of right to make answer to the merits, does hereby set forth the following legal objections to plaintiffs’ rule for ejectment:

“1. The court is without jurisdiction.

“2. Plaintiffs’ claim is based on an oral lease, as is set forth in plaintiffs’ praecipe for rule.

[119]*119“3. Proceedings under rule 125 B does not apply to this proceeding for the reason that there is no lease granting a confession of judgment.

“4. Plaintiffs, in any event, have no authority from the OPA to evict.

“Wherefore, defendant, by her attorney, Joseph Schutzman, prays that said rule be dismissed.”

Plaintiffs therefore maintain that, as lessees of said premises from the owner and lessor, Samuel Donaldson, and as landlord of defendant, a tenant, under the circumstances above set forth, plaintiffs are entitled to possession of the premises now adversely held and occupied by defendant and, therefore, entitled, under the laws of this Commonwealth, to possession by an action of ejectment, as has been entered in these proceedings.

A landlord in addition to the common-law action of ejectment may proceed under statutory laws of this Commonwealth, the first of which was the Act of March 21, 1806, P. L. 558, 4 Sm. L. 326; the Act of April 13,1807, P. L. 296, 4 Sm. L. 476, par. 1; the Act of June 13,1836, P. L. 568; Act of March 8,1889, P. L. 10; the Act of May 25, 1893, P. L. 131; the Act of May 8,1901, P. L. 425; the Act of April 23,1903, P. L. 261, and the Act of June 12,1919, P. L. 478.

The Act of March 21,1772,1 Sm. L. 370, sections 1 to 8, clearly confers jurisdiction upon the courts of common pleas of the various counties of this Commonwealth. The Acts of 1806 and 1807 provided that “the writ of ejectment . . . shall issue in all cases where lands, tenements or hereditaments are claimed, and give remedy as fully and effectually as in ejectments . . . heretofore used”. The Act of 1836 provided that actions in ejectment may be commenced “in any court of the county having original jurisdiction wherein the lands or tenements are situated”. The Acts of 1889, [120]*1201893, 1901, 1903, and 1919 all conferred jurisdiction upon the courts of common pleas of the various counties of this Commonwealth and defined and regulated procedure in actions of ejectment.

As stated by Nicholson in Pennsylvania Law of Real Estate, page 445:

“These remedies (Acts of 1772, Sec. 12, 1863 and 1905), often prove unsatisfactory because of the jurisdictional requirements and the probability of appeal with consequent delay. A landlord may proceed by an action of ejectment brought in the court of Common Pleas which is the customary remedy for all persons entitled to the possession of real property.” (Italics supplied.)

In the instant case, defendant has not denied possession of the premises in question and in fact has admitted it, and plaintiffs respectfully maintain that this admission, in addition to plaintiffs’ declaration in this action of ejectment, fully establishes that, on the face of the record and the pleadings in these proceedings plaintiffs have made out a prima facie case of title in plaintiffs’ right of possession and occupancy and the right to enter and prosecute this action of ejectment.

Plaintiffs’ declaration in ejectment, in this action, shows that the relation of landlord and tenant exists between plaintiffs and defendants, that plaintiffs have the right to possession of the entire premises in question, the right of occupancy of the land and the buildings or tenements upon the land and defendant’s answer, by the assertion of an oral lease, does not deny the existence of the relationship of landlord and tenant and the said answer, by its failure to deny, admits that defendant is occupying a part of the land and tenement' in question.

[121]*121“Where the language used concerning the payment of rent is that it shall be paid monthly and nothing is said as to the duration of the lease the courts have held that such circumstances indicate a lease from month to month.”

The above principle of law was clearly defined in Hollis v. Burns, 100 Pa. 206:

“The plaintiff declared in assumpsit on an implied contract for use and occupation of a certain dwelling-house. The defendant had rented the house and occupied it for twenty months., Then she withdrew therefrom, notified the plaintiff, paid the rent up to that time, and tendered the key, which the plaintiff retained in such a manner as not to release her from liability for the unexpired portion of the year in case she was legally chargeable therefor.

“The plaintiff claims she was a tenant from year to year, and seeks to recover rent for four months after she left the house. The defendant alleges she rented by the month and was not liable beyond the months of her occupancy. The letting was by parol and the evidence as to its terms was conflicting. The learned judge charged the jury ‘if it was a letting for fifty dollars per month, without anything being said about a year, then the plaintiff cannot recover the amount here claimed’.

“The only specification of error is to this charge. Plaintiff claims whether the original lease was by the year or by the month, inasmuch as the defendant held over beyond a year she can be required to pay for the whole of the second year, although she did not occupy the premises during any part of the last four months. Had the lease been by the year the tenant might be so liable: Diller v. Roberts, 13 S. & R. 60; Phillips v. Monges, 4 Whar. 226; Hemphill v. Flynn, 2 Barr 144. All these were cases where the letting [122]*122was by the year. They recognize a sound principle.

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Related

Institute of Protestant Deaconesses v. Lingenfelser
146 A. 123 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1929)
Hollis v. Burns
100 Pa. 206 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1882)
Boyer v. Smith
5 Watts 55 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1836)
Shaffer v. Sutton
5 Binn. 228 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1812)
Phillips v. Monges
4 Whart. 226 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1839)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
61 Pa. D. & C. 117, 1947 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 345, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davidson-v-ewing-pactcomplallegh-1947.