Chap. 193.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 5445 of the Code of Virginia, as
heretofore amended, relating to unlawful entry and detainer. {S B 109]

Approved March 13, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
section fifty-four hundred and forty-five of the Code of Virginia, as
heretofore amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as
follows:

Section 5445. How Person Turned Out or Kept Out of Posses-
sion of Land May Recover It; When Proceeding to Be in Court and
When It May Be Before a Justice.—If any forcible or unlawful entry
be made upon lands, or if, when the entry is lawful and peaceable,
the tenant shall detain the possession of land after his right has
expired, without the consent of him who is entitled to the possession,
the party so turned out of possession, no matter what right or title
he had thereto, or the party against whom such possession is unlaw-
fully detained may, within three years only after such forcible or
unlawful entry, or such unlawful detainer, sue out of the clerk’s
office of the circuit or county court of the county, or the circuit or
corporation court of the city in which the land, or some part thereof,
is, a summons against the defendant to answer the complaint of the
plaintiff that the defendant is in possession and unlawfully withholds
from the plaintiff the premises in question. A declaration may be
filed as in other actions at law, but if the premises be adequately
described in the summons no such declaration shall be necessary. In
any case where possession of any house, land, or tenement is unlaw-
fully detained by the person in possession thereof, except a case
where possession is unlawfully detained by a tenant, or some person
claiming under him, where the lease of such tenant was originally for
a period exceeding one year, the landlord or other person entitled tc
the possession may present to any justice of the county, city, or
town in which said premises are situated, a statement, under oath,
of the facts which authorize the removal of the tenant or other person
in possession (describing said premises); and thereupon the said
justice shall issue his summons against the person or persons namec
in the said affidavit.