CHAPTER III.

The Justices' Courts of Cities.

§ 67. [60.] Jurisdiction.

The justices' courts of cities shall have jurisdiction in the following cases, and no other:

1. In actions similar to those in which justices of the peace have jurisdiction, as provided by sections 53 and 54.

2. In an action upon the charter or by-laws of the corporations of their respective cities, where the penalty or forfeiture shall not exceed one hundred dollars.

CHAPTER IV.

General Provisions.

§ 68. [61.] (Am'd 1849, 1851.) Sections 55 and 64 applicable to

this title.

The provisions of sections 55 to 64, both inclusive, relating to forms of action, to pleadings, to the times of commencing actions, to the rules of evidence, to filing and docketing transcripts of judgments, to their effect and the mode of enforcing them, and to proceedings where title to real property shall come in question, shall apply to the courts embraced in this title, except that, after the discontinuance of the actions in the inferior court, upon an answer of title, the new action may be brought either in the supreme court, or in any other court having jurisdiction thereof; and except, also, that in the city and county of New York, a judgment for twenty-five dollars or over, exclusive of costs, the transcript whereof is docketed in the office of the clerk of that county, shall have the same effect as a lien, and be enforced in the same manner as, and be deemed a judgment of the court of common pleas for the city and county of New York.

SECTION 69.

TITLE I.

Form of Civil Actions.

Distinction between actions at law and suits in equity abolished.

70. Parties, how designated.

71. Actions on judgments.

72. Feigned issues abolished.

§ 69. [62.] (Am'd 1849.) Distinction between actions at law and suits in equity abolished.

The distinction between actions at law and suits in equity, and the forms of all such actions and suits, heretofore existing, are abolished; and there shall be in this State, hereafter, but one form of action for the enforcement or protection of private rights and the redress of private wrongs, which shall be denominated a civil action.

§70. [63.] (Am'd 1849.) Parties, how designated.

In such action, the party complaining shall be known as the plaintiff, and the adverse party as the defendant.

71. [64.] Actions on judgments.

No action shall be brought upon a judgment rendered in any court of this State, except a court of a justice of the peace, between the same parties, without leave of the court for good cause shown, on notice to the adverse party; and no action on a judgment rendered by a justice of the peace shall be brought in the same county within five years after its rendition, except in case of his death, resignation, incapacity to act, or removal from the county, or that the process was not personally served on the defendant, or on all the defendants, or in case of the death of some of the parties, or where the docket or record of such judgment is or shall have been lost or destroyed.

§ 72. [65.] Existing suits. Feigned issues abolished.

Feigned issues are abolished; and instead thereof, in the cases where the power now exists to order a feigned issue, or when a question of fact, not put in issue by the pleadings, is to be tried by a jury, an order for the trial may be made, stating distinctly and plainly the question of fact to be tried; and such order shall be the only authority necessary for a trial.

§ 73. [66.] (Am'd 1849.) Repeal of existing limitations.

The provisions contained in the chapter of the revised statutes, entitled "Of actions and the times of commencing them," are re

pealed, and the provisions of this title are substituted in their stead. This title shall not extend to actions already commenced, or to cases where the right of action has already accrued; but the statutes now in force shall be applicable to such cases, according to the subject of the action, and without regard to the form.

§ 74. [67.] (Am'd 1849, 1851.) Period of limitation, answer, &c. Civil actions can only be commenced within the periods prescribed in this title, after the cause of action shall have accrued, except where, in special cases, a different limitation is prescribed by statute, and in the cases mentioned in section seventy-three.

But the objection that the action was not commenced within the time limited, can only be taken by answer.

CHAPTER II.

Time of commencing Actions for the recovery of Real Property.

SECTION 75. When the people will not sue.

76. When action cannot be brought by grantee from the State.

77. When actions by the people or their grantees to be brought within
twenty years.

78. Seizin within twenty years, when necessary.

79. Seizin within twenty years, when necessary in action or defence
founded on title, &c.

80. Action after entry, or right of entry.

81. Possession, when presumed. Occupation, when deemed under legal

S2.

title.

Occupation under written instrument, &c.

83. Adverse possession under written instrument, &c.

84. Premises actually occupied, held adversely.

85. Adverse possession under claim of title not written.

86. Relation of landlord and tenant, as affecting adverse possession.

87. Descent cast. Effect of.

88. Persons under disability.

$75. When the people, will not sue.

The people of this State will not sue any person for or in respect to any real property, or the issues or profits thereof, by reason of the right or title of the people to the same, unless,

1. Such right or title shall have accrued within forty years before any action or other proceeding for the same shall be commenced; or unless,

2. The people, or those from whom they claim, shall have received the rents and profits of such real property, or of some part thereof, within the space of forty years.

§ 76. When action cannot be brought by grantee from the State. No action shall be brought for, or in respect to, real property, by any person claiming by virtue of letters patent or grants from the people of this State, unless the same might have been commenced by the people, as herein specified, in case such patent or grant had not been issued or made.

§ 77. When actions by the people or their grantees to be brought within twenty years.

When letters patent or grants of real property shall have been issued or made by the people of this State, and the same shall be declared void by the determination of a competent court, rendered upon an allegation of a fraudulent suggestion, or concealment, or forfeiture, or mistake, or ignorance of a material fact, or wrongful detaining, or defective title, in such case an action for the recovery of the premises so conveyed may be brought either by the people of this State, or by any subsequent patentee or grantee of the same premises, his heirs or assigns, within twenty years after such determination was made, but not after that period.

§ 78. Seizin within twenty years, when necessary.

No action for the recovery of real property, or for the recovery of the possession thereof, shall be maintained, unless it appear that the plaintiff, his ancestor, predecessor or grantor was seized or possessed of the premises in question within twenty years before the commencement of such action.

§ 79. Seizin within twenty years, when necessary in action or defence founded on title.

No cause of action or defence to an action founded upon the title to real property, or to rents or services out of the same, shall be effectual, unless it appear that the person prosecuting the action or making the defence, or under whose title the action is prosecuted or the defence is made, or the ancestor, predecessor or grantor of