10 D.C. 422 (D.C.D.C. 1879), 17,013, The Charter Oak Life Ins. Co. v. Tallmadge

• Docket Nº: AT LAW.— 17,013.
• Citation: 10 D.C. 422
• Opinion Judge: CARTTER, Ch. J.
• Party Name: THE CHARTER OAK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY v. HENRY H. TALLMADGE AND LEWIS C. TALLMADGE.
• Attorney: S. S. Henkle , for petitioners. S. R. Bond and W. F. Mattingly , for the insurance company.
• Court: Supreme Court of District of Columbia

Page 422

10 D.C. 422 (D.C.D.C. 1879)

THE CHARTER OAK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

v.

HENRY H. TALLMADGE AND LEWIS C. TALLMADGE.

AT LAW.— No. 17,013.

Supreme Court, District of Columbia.

September Term, 1879

This court will quash a writ of certiorari issued to remove proceedings before a magistrate under the landlord and tenant act, where it appears that the justice is not exceeding his jurisdiction. Nor will it be sufficient to sustain such writ that the tenant alleges that he has made improvements upon the demised premises, by reason of which there has been no default in payment of rent.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE.

Proceedings under the landlord and tenant act were instituted by the plaintiff against the defendants before Charles Walter, Esq., a justice of the peace, to recover possession of certain real estate in the city of Washington occupied by the defendants as tenants of the plaintiff. Before trial the defendants removed the proceedings to this court by certiorari upon a petition, of which the following is the substance:

That the plaintiff has caused a summons to be issued by said justice to recover from the petitioners the possession of certain premises leased by the plaintiff to them on the 1st day of September, 1875, for the term of ten years, by lease signed, sealed, and acknowledged according to law; that the plaintiff claims that said lease had been forfeited by non-payment of rent and taxes, while they claim to have expended a large sum of money in necessary improvements, and such as were essential to enable them to profitably use the same as a public hall, for which it was leased, and for which they are entitled to credit, and therefore there has been no default and forfeiture; that the amount which they claim should be allowed is not less than $5,500, and they are advised that the questions and amounts involved in the case are such as a justice of the peace has no jurisdiction to try and determine; wherefore they pray this writ.

By the return of the magistrate the original complaint and summons are sent to this court, from which it appears that on the 30th of December, 1876, a complaint was made before him by the Charter Oak Life Insurance Company, by Asahel H. Dillon, Jr., its second vice-president, that the premises in question, describing them, were unlawfully detained from said company by the defendants, to whom it had leased them, and whose estate therein had been determined " by default in the...