FORCIBLE ENTRY AND DETAINER
forcible entry and detainer. 1. The act of violently taking and keeping possession of lands and
tenements without legal authority. [Cases: Forcible Entry and Detainer 4.]
“To walk across another’s land, or to enter his building, without privilege, is a trespass, but
this in itself, while a civil wrong, is not a crime. However, if an entry upon real estate is
accomplished by violence or intimidation, or if such methods are employed for detention after a
peaceable entry, there is a crime according to English law, known as forcible entry and detainer.
This was a common-law offense in England, although supplemented by English statutes that are
old enough to be common law in this country…. It has sometimes been said that there are two
separate offenses — (1) forcible entry and (2) forcible detainer. This may be true under the
peculiar wording of some particular statute, but in general it seems to be one offense which may
be committed in two different ways.” Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law
487–88 (3d ed. 1982).
- A quick and simple legal proceeding for regaining possession of real property from
someone who has wrongfully taken, or refused to surrender, possession. — Also termed forcible
detainer. See EVICTION; EJECTMENT. [Cases: Forcible Entry and Detainer 6; Landlord and
Tenant 287.]“Forcible entry and detainer is a remedy given by statute for the recovery of
possession of land and of damages for its detention. It is entirely regulated by statute, and the
statutes vary materially in the different states.” Benjamin J. Shipman, Handbook of Common-Law
Pleading § 74, at 188 (Henry Winthrop Ballantine ed., 3d ed. 1923).[Blacks Law 8th]