forcible entry

FORCIBLE ENTRY or DETAINER, crim. law. An offence committed by unlawfully 
and violently taking or keeping possession of lands and tenements, with 
menaces, force and, arms, and without the authority of law. Com. Dig. h.t. 
     2. The proceedings in case of forcible entry or detainer, are regulated 
by statute in the several states. ( q.v.) The offence is generally punished 
by indictment. 4 Bl. Com. 148 Russ. on Cr. 283. A forcible entry and a 
forcible detainer, are distinct offences. 1 Serg. & Rawle, 124; 8 Cowen, 
226. 
     3. In the civil and French law, a similar remedy is given for thing 
offence. The party injured has two actions, a criminal or a civil. The 
action is called actio interdictum undevie. In French, l'action 
reintegrande. Poth. Proc. Civ. Partie 2, c. 3, art. 3; 11 Toull. Nos. 123, 
134, 135, 137, pp. 179, 180, 182, and, generally, from p. 163. Vide, 
generally, 3 Pick. 31; 3 Halst. R. 48; 2 Tyler's R. 64; 2 Root's R. 411; Id. 
472; 4 Johns. R. 150; 8 Johns. R. 44; 10 Johns. R. 304; 1 Caines' R. 125; 2 
Caines' R. 98; 9 Johns. R. 147; 2 Johns. Cas. 400; 6 Johns. R. 334; 2 Johns. 
R. 27; 3 Caines' R. 104; 11 John. R. 504; 12 John. R. 31; 13 Johns. R. 158; 
Id. 340; 16 Johns. R. 141; 8 Cowen, 226; 1 Coxe's R. 258; Id. 260; 1 South. 
R. 125; 1 Halst. R. 396; 3 Id. 48; 4 Id. 37; 6 Id. 84; 1 Yeates, 501; Addis. 
R. 14, 17, 43, 316, 355; 3 Serg. & Rawle, 418; 3 Yeates, 49; 4 Dall. 212; 4 
Yeates, 326; 3 Harr. & McHen. 428; 2 Bay, R. 355; 2 Nott & McCord, 121; 1 
Const. R. 325; Cam. & Norw. 337, 340; Com. Dig. h.t.; Vin. &b. h.t.; Bac. 
Ab. h.t.; 2 Chit. Pr. 281 to 241. 
     4. The civil law punished even the owner of an estate, in proportion to 
the violence used, when he forcibly took possession of it, a fortiori, a 
stranger. Domat, Supp. au Dr. Pub. 1. 3, t. 4, s. 3.