In the United States, the old English action of ejectment was adopted to a very limited extent, and where it was so adopted has often been superseded, as in Connecticut, by a single action for all cases of ouster, disseisin or ejectment. In this action, known as an action of disseisin or ejectment, both possession of the land and damages may be recovered. In some of the states a tenant against whom an action of ejectment is brought by a stranger is bound under a penalty, as in England, to give notice of the claim to the landlord in order that he may appear and defend his title.

In French law the landlord’s claim for rent is fairly secured by the hypothec, and by summary powers which exist for the seizure of the effects of defaulting tenants. Eviction or annulment of a lease can only be obtained through the judicial tribunals. The Civil Code deals with the position of a tenant in case of the sale of the property leased. If the lease is by authentic act (acte authentique) or has an ascertained date, the purchaser cannot evict the tenant unless a right to do so was reserved on the lease (art. 1743), and then only on payment of an indemnity (arts. 1744-1747). If the lease is not by authentic act, or has not an ascertained date, the purchaser is not liable for indemnity (art. 1750). The tenant of rural lands is bound to give the landlord notice of acts of usurpation (art. 1768). There are analogous provisions in the Civil Codes of Belgium (arts. 1743 et seq.), Holland (arts. 1613, 1614), Portugal (art. 1572); and see the German Civil Code (arts. 535 et seq.). In many of the colonies there are statutory provisions for the recovery of land or premises on the lines of English law (cf. Ontario, Rev. Stats. 1897, c. 170. ss. 19 et seq.; Manitoba, Rev. Stats. 1902, c. 1903). In others (e.g. New Zealand, Act. No. 55 of 1893, ss. 175-187; British Columbia, Revised Statutes, 1897, c. 182: Cyprus, Ord. 15 of 1895) there has been legislation similar to the Small Tenements Recovery Act 1838.

Authorities.—English Law: Cole on Ejectment; Digby, History of Real Property (3rd ed., London, 1884); Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law (Cambridge, 1895); Foa, Landlord and Tenant (4th ed., London, 1907); Fawcett, Landlord and Tenant (London, 1905). Irish Law: Nolan and Kane’s Statutes relating to the Law of Landlord and Tenant (5th ed., Dublin, 1898); Wylie’s Judicature Acts (Dublin, 1900). Scots Law: Hunter on Landlord and Tenant (4th ed., Edin., 1878); Erskine’s Principles (20th ed., Edin., 1903). American Law: Two Centuries’ Growth of American Law (New York and London, 1901); Bouvier’s Law Dictionary (Boston and London, 1897); Stimson, American Statute Law (Boston, 1886).

(A. W. R.)


EKATERINBURG, a town of Russia, in the government of Perm, 311 m. by rail S.E. of the town of Perm, on the Iset river, near the E. foot of the Ural Mountains, in 56° 49′ N. and 60° 35′ E., at an altitude of 870 ft. above sea-level. It is the most important town of the Urals. Pop. (1860) 19,830; (1897) 55,488. The streets are broad and regular, and several of the houses of palatial proportions. In 1834 Ekaterinburg was made the see of a suffragan bishop of the Orthodox Greek Church. There are two cathedrals—St Catherine’s, founded in 1758, and that of the Epiphany, in 1774—and a museum of natural history, opened in 1853. Ekaterinburg is the seat of the central mining administration of the Ural region, and has a chemical laboratory for the assay of gold, a mining school, the Ural Society of Naturalists, and a magnetic and meteorological observatory. Besides the government mint for copper coinage, which dates from 1735, the government engineering works, and the imperial factory for the cutting and polishing of malachite, jasper, marble, porphyry and other ornamental stones, the industrial establishments comprise candle, paper, soap and machinery works, flour and woollen mills, and tanneries. There is a lively trade in cattle, cereals, iron, woollen and silk goods, and colonial products; and two important fairs are held annually. Nearly forty gold and platinum mines, over thirty iron-works, and numerous other factories are scattered over the district, while wheels, travelling boxes, hardware, boots and so forth are extensively made in the villages. Ekaterinburg took its origin from the mining establishments founded by Peter the Great in 1721, and received its name in honour of his wife, Catherine I. Its development was greatly promoted in 1763 by the diversion of the Siberian highway from Verkhoturye to this place.


EKATERINODAR, a town of South Russia, chief town of the province of Kubañ, on the right bank of the river Kubañ, 85 m. E.N.E. of Novo-rossiysk on the railway to Rostov-on-Don, and in 45° 3′ N. and 38° 50′ E. It is badly built, on a swampy site exposed to the inundations of the river; and its houses, with few exceptions, are slight structures of wood and plaster. Founded by Catherine II. in 1794 on the site of an old town called Tmutarakan, as a small fort and Cossack settlement, its population grew from 9620 in 1860 to 65,697 in 1897. It has various technical schools, an experimental fruit-farm, a military hospital, and a natural history museum. A considerable trade is carried on, especially in cereals.


EKATERINOSLAV, a government of south Russia, having the governments of Poltava and Kharkov on the N., the territory of the Don Cossacks on the E., the Sea of Azov and Taurida on the S., and Kherson on the W. Area, 24,478 sq. m. Its surface is undulating steppe, sloping gently south and north, with a few hills reaching 1200 ft. in the N.E., where a slight swelling (the Don Hills) compels the Don to make a great curve eastwards. Another chain of hills, to which the eastward bend of the Dnieper is due, rises in the west. These hills have a crystalline core (granites, syenites and diorites), while the surface strata belong to the Carboniferous, Permian, Cretaceous and Tertiary formations. The government is rich in minerals, especially in coal—the mines lie in the middle of the Donets coalfield—iron ores, fireclay and rock-salt, and every year the mining output increases in quantity, especially of coal and iron. Granite, limestone, grindstone, slate, with graphite, manganese and mercury are found. The government is drained by the Dnieper, the Don and their tributaries (e.g. the Donets and Volchya) and by several affluents (e.g. the Kalmius) of the Sea of Azov. The soil is the fertile black earth, but the crops occasionally suffer from drought, the average annual rainfall being only 15 in. Forests are scarce. Pop. (1860) 1,138,750; (1897) 2,118,946, chiefly Little Russians, with Great Russians, Greeks (48,740), Germans (80,979), Rumanians and a few gypsies. Jews constitute 4.7% of the population. The estimated population in 1906 was 2,708,700.