Title 8.01, Civil Remedies and Procedure

In any proceedings for the sale of real estate or to subject real estate to the payment of debts, it appears to the court that the real estate cannot be sold for enough to pay off the liens of taxes, levies, and assessments returned delinquent against it, and it further appears t…

Except as hereinafter provided, no special commissioner shall advertise the property for sale or renting, or sell or rent the same, until he shall have given bond in a penalty to be prescribed by the court sufficient to cover at least the probable amount of the whole purchase mon…

A. A proceeding in detinue to recover personal property unlawfully withheld from the plaintiff may be brought on a warrant or motion for judgment if pretrial seizure is not sought at the time of filing. A petition in detinue for pretrial seizure pursuant to this article may be fi…

No such order or process, however, shall be issued until a bond, conforming with the requirements of § 8.01-537.1, is posted with the judge or magistrate, in a penalty at least double the estimated fair market value of the property claimed, payable to the defendant, with the addi…

A. Subject to the provisions of subsection B below, the defendant in any such proceeding, or any other person claiming title to the property so seized and taken possession of by the officer, may have such property returned to him at any time after such seizure upon executing a bo…

Either party may file exceptions to the sufficiency of the bond of the other or of the claimant of the property, if he has given bond, or such claimant may file exceptions to the sufficiency of the bond of either party. The court before whom the proceeding is pending, may, on the…

A. Within thirty days after the issuance of any ex parte order or process pursuant to § 8.01-114, or promptly upon application of either party, and in either event after reasonable notice, the court in which such proceeding is pending shall conduct a hearing to review the decisio…

If in such detinue action, on an issue concerning several things, in one or more counts, no verdict be found for part of them, it shall not be error, but the plaintiff shall be barred of his title to the things omitted; and if the verdict omit the price or value, the court may at…

When final judgment is rendered on the trial of such detinue proceeding, the court shall dispose of the property or proceeds according to the rights of those entitled. When, in any such proceeding, the plaintiff prevails under a contract which, regardless of its form or express t…

The legal charges, if any, for keeping any such property, while in the possession of the officer, shall be paid by the plaintiff and certified by the officer to the court who, in case such order or process be not abated and final judgment be rendered for the plaintiff, shall tax …

When a judgment for specific personal property is affirmed by an appellate court, or an injunction to such judgment is dissolved, the person who is entitled to execution of such judgment, or who would be entitled if execution had not been had, may, on motion to the court from whi…

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 the right has expired, without the consent of him who is entitled to the possession, the party so turned out of possession, no…

When the action is commenced in the circuit court, the summons is returnable thereto and, upon application of either party trial by jury shall be had.

A. For the purposes of this section, "termination notice" means a notice given under § 55.1-1245 or other notice of termination of tenancy given by the landlord to the tenant of a dwelling unit, or any notice of termination given by a landlord to a tenant of a nonresidential prem…

A. If it appears that the plaintiff was forcibly or unlawfully turned out of possession, or that it was unlawfully detained from him, the verdict or judgment shall be for the plaintiff for the premises, or such part thereof as may be found to have been so held or detained. The ve…

A. An appeal shall lie from the judgment of a general district court, in any proceeding under this article, to the circuit court in the same manner and with like effect and upon like security as appeals taken under the provisions of § 16.1-106 et seq. except as specifically provi…

No judgment in an action brought under the provisions of this article shall bar any action of trespass, ejectment, or unlawful detainer between the same parties, nor shall any such judgment or verdict be conclusive, in any such future action, of the facts therein found.

A. If, in an action for unlawful detainer filed in general district court, (i) such action is dismissed and the 30-day period following such dismissal has passed or (ii) a voluntary nonsuit of such action is taken and the six-month period following such nonsuit has passed, provid…

A. The action of ejectment is retained, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, and to the applicable Rules of Court. B. Such action may be brought in the same cases in which a writ of right might have been brought prior to the first day of July, 1850, and by any person …

No person shall bring such ejectment action unless he has, at the time of commencing it, a subsisting interest in the premises claimed and a right to recover the same, or to recover the possession thereof, or some share, interest or portion thereof.

The person actually occupying the premises and any person claiming title thereto or claiming any interest therein adversely to the plaintiff may also, at the discretion of the plaintiff, be named defendants in the action. If there be no person actually occupying the premises adve…

The action shall be commenced and prosecuted as other actions at law. The name of the real claimant shall be inserted as plaintiff, and all the provisions of law concerning a lessor of a plaintiff shall apply to such plaintiff.

It shall be sufficient for the plaintiff to aver in his motion for judgment that on some day specified therein, which shall be after his title accrued, he was possessed of the premises claimed, and, being so possessed thereof, the defendant afterwards, on some day likewise specif…

The premises claimed shall be described in the motion for judgment with convenient certainty, so that, from such description, with the aid of information derived from the plaintiff, possession thereof may be delivered.

The plaintiff shall also state whether he claims in fee or for his life, or the life of another, or for years, specifying such lives or the duration of such term, and when he claims an undivided share or interest he shall state the same.

The motion for judgment may contain several counts, and several parties may be named as plaintiffs jointly in one count and separately in others.

The consent rule, formerly used, remains abolished. The plaintiff need not prove an actual entry on, or possession of, the premises demanded, or receipt of any profits thereof, or any lease, entry, or ouster, except as hereinafter provided. But it shall be sufficient for him to s…

In any action, suit or other judicial proceeding involving the title to land embraced in the exterior boundaries of any patent, deed or other writing, which reserves one or more parcels of land from the operation of such patent, deed or other writing, if there be no claim made by…

If the action be by one or more tenants in common, joint tenants or coparceners against their cotenants, the plaintiff shall be bound to prove actual ouster or some other act amounting to total denial of the plaintiff's right as cotenant.

If the action be against several defendants, and a joint possession of all be proved, and the plaintiff be entitled to a verdict, it shall be against all, whether they pleaded separately or jointly.

If the action be against several defendants, and it appear on the trial that any of them occupy distinct parcels in severalty or jointly, and that other defendants possess other parcels in severalty or jointly, the plaintiff may recover several judgments against them, for the par…

The plaintiff may recover any specific or any undivided part or share of the premises, though it be less than he claimed in the motion for judgment.

In a controversy affecting real estate, possession of part shall not be construed as possession of the whole when an actual adverse possession can be proved.

A vendor, or any claiming under him, shall not, at law any more than in equity, recover against a vendee, or those claiming under him, lands sold by such vendor to such vendee, when there is a writing, stating the purchase and the terms thereof, signed by the vendor or his agent …

The payment of the whole sum, or the performance of the whole duty, or the accomplishment of the whole purpose, which any mortgage or deed of trust may have been made to secure or effect, shall prevent the grantee, or his heirs, from recovering at law, by virtue of such mortgage …

Whether the defendant shall or shall not make or attempt a defense under §§ 8.01-146 and 8.01-147, he shall not be precluded from resorting to equity for any relief to which he would have been entitled if such sections had not been enacted.

If the jury be of opinion for the plaintiffs, or any of them, the verdict shall be for the plaintiffs, or such of them as appear to have right to the possession of the premises, or any part thereof, and against such of the defendants as were in possession thereof or claimed title…

When any plaintiff appears to have no such right, the verdict as to such plaintiff shall be for the defendants.

When the right of the plaintiff is proved to all the premises claimed, the verdict shall be for the premises generally as specified in the motion for judgment, but if it be proved to only a part or share of the premises, the verdict shall specify such part particularly as the sam…

If the verdict be for an undivided share or interest in the premises claimed, it shall specify the same, and if for an undivided share or interest of a part of the premises, it shall specify such share or interest, and describe such part as before required.

The verdict shall also specify the estate found in the plaintiff, whether it be in fee or for life, stating for whose life, or whether it be a term of years, and specifying the duration of such term.

If the right or title of a plaintiff in ejectment expire after the commencement of the suit, but before trial, the verdict shall be according to the fact, and judgment shall be entered for his damages sustained from the withholding of the premises by the defendant, and as to the …

The judgment for the plaintiff shall be, that he recover the possession of the premises, according to the verdict of the jury, if there be a verdict, or if the judgment be by default, or on demurrer, according to the description thereof in the motion for judgment.

In any county or city, when personal property is removed from premises pursuant to an action of unlawful detainer or ejectment, or pursuant to any other action in which personal property is removed from premises in order to restore such premises to the person entitled thereto, th…

If the plaintiff file with his motion for judgment a statement of the profits and other damages which he means to demand, and the jury find in his favor, they shall, at the same time, unless the court otherwise order, assess the damages for mesne profits of the land for any perio…

If there be no issue of fact tried in the cause, and judgment is to be rendered for the plaintiff on demurrer, or otherwise, such damages shall be assessed by the court, unless either party shall move to have them assessed by a jury, or the court shall think proper to have them s…