43 S.E.2d 778 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1947
Under the law as it existed at the time the judgment in the present case was rendered, a judgment in a dispossessory-warrant proceeding could include double rent on the premises involved only to the time of the judgment; and, consequently, the judge did not err in sustaining the defendant's demurrer to the motion or petition of the plaintiff to amend the judgment in the present case so as to include double rent on the *407 premises involved from the date of the trial to the date when the defendant surrendered possession of the same to the plaintiff.
On March 14, 1947, the plaintiff filed in the Civil Court of Fulton County a petition to amend the judgment rendered in said case on August 14, 1946, so as to include therein double rent and interest thereon for said premises from August 13, 1946, until March 4, 1947, the date when the defendant surrendered possession to the plaintiff. The petition was sanctioned by the acting chief judge of said court, and the defendant was ordered to show cause why the prayers of the petition should not be granted. The defendant acknowledged service of said motion and order, and on March 26, 1947, demurred to said motion upon the ground, "That there are no facts set out in said motion authorizing the relief prayed for therein or any other relief." The judge sustained the demurrer, and the plaintiff excepted.
1. The trial judge did not err in sustaining the demurrer and in dismissing the plaintiff's motion to amend the judgment so as to include double rent on the premises involved from the date of the trial to the date when the defendant surrendered possession of the premises to the plaintiff. It is provided by the Code, §§ 61-303, *408
61-304, that where a warrant to dispossess a tenant has been issued, he may prevent the removal of himself and his goods from the premises by filing a counter-affidavit denying the right of the plaintiff to dispossess him and by giving a bond for the payment of such sum, with costs, as may be recovered against him on the trial of the case. Code, § 61-305, at the time of said judgment provided: "If the issue specified in the preceding section shall be determined against the tenant, judgment shall go against him for double the rent reserved or stipulated to be paid, or if he shall be a tenant at will or sufferance, for double what the rent of the premises is shown to be worth; and the movant or plaintiff shall have a writ of possession, and shall be by the sheriff, deputy, or constable placed in full possession of the premises." It was held in Sims v. Shotkin,
The case of Sanders v. Williams,
Judgment affirmed. Felton and Parker, JJ., concur.