Detainer

Detainer

In the Past

The act of keeping a person against his will or of keeping goods or property. All illegal detainers of the person amount to false imprisonment and may be remedied by habeas corpus.

Developments

A detainer or detention of goods is either lawful or unlawful; when lawful, the party having possession of them cannot be deprived of it. The detention may be unlawful, although the original taking was lawful; as when goods were distrained for rent and the rent was -afterwards paid; or when they 'Were pledged and the money borrowed and interest were afterwards paid; in these and the like cases, the owner should make a demand, (see this concept in the corresponding entry on this reference) and if the possessor refuse to restore them, trover, detinue or replevin will lie, at the choice of the plaintiff.

Details

There may also be a detainer of land and this is either lawful and peaceable or unlawful and forcible. 1. The detainer is lawful where the entry has been lawful and the estate is held by virtue of some right. 2. It is unlawful and forcible, where the entry has been unlawful and with force and it is keeped, by force, against right; or even when the entry has been peaceable and lawful, if the detainer be by force and against right; as, if a tenant (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.S. encyclopedia) at will should detain with force, after the will has decided, he will be guilty of a forcible detainer. Hawk. P. C. ch. 64, s. 22; 2 Chit. Pr. 288; Com. Dig, B. 2; 8 Cowen, 216; 1 Hall, 240; 4 John. 198; 4 Bibb, 501. A forcible detainer is a distinct offence from a forcible entry. 8 Cowen, 216. See Forcible entry and detainer.

Other Aspects

A writ or instrument, issued or made by a competent officer, authorizing the keeper of a prison to keep in his custody a person there named. A detainer may be lodged against. one within the walls of a prison, on what account soever he is there. Comyn's Digest (A digest of the laws of England, 1822) Process, E 3 b. [1]

Resources

Notes and References

1. Partialy, this information about detainer is based on the Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1848 edition. There is a list of terms of the Bouvier's Law Dictionary, including detainer.

See Also

Meaning of Detainer

This is a brief definition of detainer; a term used, in general, in the field of procedural law within the United States: Act of withholding from a person lawfully entitled to possession of land or goods, or to the restraint of a person's liberty, against his will_ an action in which a landlord seeks to evict a tenant who remains on the property unlawfully is called an unlawful detainer action.