2020 Tennessee Code
Title 29 - Remedies and Special Proceedings
Chapter 18 - Forcible Entry and Detainer
§ 29-18-119. Manner of Trial — Title Not Inquired Into
- The cause shall be tried at the time and place designated, by a single general sessions judge, without the intervention of a jury, and in all respects like other civil suits before the court of general sessions.
- The general sessions judge will try every case upon its merits and ascertain whether the plaintiff or defendant is entitled to the possession of the premises agreeably to the laws governing such cases, and give judgment accordingly.
- The estate, or merits of the title, shall not be inquired into.
Code 1858, §§ 3353, 3354; (deriv. Acts 1821, ch. 14, § 20 and Acts 1841-1842, ch. 186, §§ 1, 2); impl. am. Acts 1879, ch. 23, § 1; Shan., §§ 5102, 5103; Code 1932, §§ 9256, 9257; impl. am. Acts 1979, ch. 68, § 3; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), §§ 23-1619, 23-1620; Acts 1991, ch. 273, § 40.
Textbooks. Pritchard on Wills and Administration of Estates (4th ed., Phillips and Robinson), § 686.
Tennessee Jurisprudence, 13 Tenn. Juris., Forcible Entry and Detainer, §§ 3, 18; 17 Tenn. Juris., Justices of Peace and General Sessions Courts, § 24.
Law Reviews.
Right to a Jury Trial in Forcible Entry and Detainer Actions in General Sessions Courts in Tennessee (Robert Larry Brown), 6 Mem. St. U.L. Rev. 59.
Cited: Newport Housing Authority v. Ballard, 839 S.W.2d 86, 1992 Tenn. LEXIS 567 (Tenn. 1992); Lewis v. Muchmore, 26 S.W.3d 632, 2000 Tenn. App. LEXIS 81 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2000); CitiMortgage, Inc. v. Drake, 410 S.W.3d 797, 2013 Tenn. App. LEXIS 116 (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 21, 2013).
