57 Pa. Super. 445 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1914
Opinion by
Alfred F. Hanna, the defendant in this present action, had presented his petition to the court below, at No. 653, September Term, 1910, averring that he was the owner and in possession of, inter alia, a tract of land containing 439 acres, more or less, and that Isaac D. West claimed title to said tract of land. The petitioner “asserting his ownership of the piece of land aforesaid and his possession and right of possession thereof, and denying the claim of said Isaac D. West to the title of said piece of land,” prayed the court to grant a rule upon the said Isaac D. West to bring his action of ejectment for the said tract of land within six months of the service of such rule upon him, or show cause why the same should
The petition of Hanna, at No. 653, September Term, 1910, for a rule on the plaintiff to bring ejectment, alleged the facts necessary to invoke the jurisdiction of the court and was clearly within the provisions of the Act of March 8, 1889, P. L. 10, as amended by the Act of April 16, 1903, P. L. 212. When the court made absolute the rule on Mr. West to bring an action of ejectment, or be barred, that was a final order so far as that proceeding was concerned, and the respondent was in position to appeal if he desired to question the regularity of that order: Fearl v. Johnstown, 216 Pa. 205. If the respondent desired to have that action of the court reviewed it was incumbent upon him to take his appeal within the period required by statute. Mr. West never appealed from that order. Not having appealed, he still had two courses open to him: if he did not desire to assert title to the land, he could simply do nothing, and after the period fixed by the order he and those claiming under him would be barred of any right of action; or if he believed that he had a good title to the land he could bring his action of ejectment. Having brought an action of ejectment, that action is to be disposed of and the rights of the parties determined upon the principles which control all actions of
The plaintiff brought his action of ejectment not merely for the 439 acre tract which- Hanna had described in his petition but for a tract containing 970 acres, of which the 439 acre tract was a part. The defendant filed a disclaimer for 531 acres of .the larger tract and claimed by metes and bounds the 439 acre tract, and
The law at the time the verdict in that old action of ejectment was rendered required two verdicts and
The judgment is reversed and a new venire awarded.