Sec. 1225. EJECTMENT OR SUMMARY PROCEEDINGS. Whenever a lease for any definite term shall expire, or any tenancy shall be terminated by notice as aforesaid, and the tenant shall fail or refuse to surrender possession of the leased premises, the landlord may bring an action of ejectment to recover possession in the supreme court of the District; or the landlord may bring an action to recover possession before a justice of the peace, as provided in chapter one, subchapter one, aforesaid.

Sec. 1226. ARREARS OF RENT AND DOUBLE RENT. -In either case the landlord may join with his claim for recovery of the possession of the leased premises a claim for all arrears of rent accrued to the termination of the tenancy, and, when the tenant has given the notice, for double rent from the termination of the tenancy to the verdict, or judgment, if the trial be by the court, [for possession] and for damages for waste: Provided, That in such action before a justice of the peace the amount so claimed shall be within his jurisdiction. If judgment for possession be rendered in favor of the plaintiff, he shall be entitled, at the same time, to a judgment for said arrears of rent, and for said double rent, as the case may be, to the date of the verdict or judgment as aforesaid, and for damages for waste.

Sec. 1227. CONSOLIDATION OF ACTIONS.-If actions be brought separately, either in said supreme court or before a justice of the peace, for arrears of rent and for the possession, they may be afterwards consolidated and one judgment rendered in them for the possession and also for the rent.

Sec. 1228. PLEA OF TITLE. If, in such action to recover possession before a justice of the peace, the defendant shall plead a title in himself or in some person under whom he claims, not derived from the plaintiff, the further proceeding therein shall be as directed in said subchapter one of chapter one aforesaid.

Sec. 1229. LIEN FOR RENT.-The landlord shall have a tacit lien for his rent upon such of the tenant's personal chattels, on the premises, as are subject to execution for debt, to commence with the tenancy and continue for three months after the rent is due and until the termination of any action for such rent brought within said three months.

Sec. 1230. How ENFORCED.-The said lien may be enforcedFirst. By attachment, to be issued upon affidavit that the rent is due and unpaid; or, if it be not due, that the defendant is about to remove or sell some part of said chattels.

Second. By judgment against the tenant and execution, to be levied on said chattels, or any of them, in whosesoever hands they may be found.

Third. By action against any purchaser of said cattels, with notice of the lien, in which action the plaintiff may have judgment for the value of the chattels purchased by the defendant not exceeding the rent in arrear.

Sec. 1231. HOW ATTACHMENT ENFORCED. -Such attachment may be issued in any action for the recovery of the possession of the leased premises by the landlord, in which the rent in arrear, or double rent, or both, shall be claimed as aforesaid, and it shall be lawful for any officer to whom the writ of attachment shall be delivered to be executed

to break open an outer or inner door when necessary to the execution of the same.

Sec. 1232. APPEAL.-Either party against whom judgment is rendered by a justice of the peace, in the action aforesaid by the landlord to recover possession of the leased premises, may appeal from such judgment, and such appeal shall be tried in the supreme court in the same manner in which appeals from justices of the peace are taken and tried in other cases.

Sec. 1233. UNDERTAKING ON APPEAL.-In case of an appeal by the defendant his undertaking, in order to operate as a supersedeas, shall be an undertaking to abide by and pay the judgment rendered by the justice of the peace, if it shall be affirmed, together with the costs of the appeal, and to pay all intervening damages to the leased property and compensation for the use and occupation thereof, from the date of the judgment appealed from to the date of its affirmance; and in said undertaking the said defendant and his sureties, the latter submitting themselves to the jurisdiction of the court, shall agree that if the judg ment be affirmed judgment may be rendered against them by the appellate court for the amount of the judgment so affirmed and the intervening damages, compensation, and costs aforesaid.

Sec. 1234. ASSIGNEE OF REVERSION.-The grantee or assignee of the reversion of any leased premises shall have the same right of action against the lessee, his personal representatives, heirs, or assigns, for rent or for any forfeiture or breach of any covenant or condition in the lease which the grantor or assignor might have had; and the assignee of the lessee shall have the same rights of action against the lessor, his grantee, or assignee, upon any covenants in the lease which the lessee might have had against the lessor.

Sec. 1235. Whenever real and personal property shall be leased together, as, for example, a house with the furniture contained therein, the landlord, either in an action of ejectment or in the summary proceeding for possession, before a justice of the peace, provided for in subchapter one of chapter one, may have a judgment for recovery of the personalty as well as for the recovery of the realty.

Sec. 1236. AGREEMENT AS TO NOTICE.-Nothing herein contained shall be construed as preventing the parties to a lease, by agreement in writing, from substituting a longer or shorter notice to quit than is above provided or to waive all such notice.

CHAPTER XL.

LIENS.

Sec. 1237. MECHANIC'S LIEN.-Every building erected, improved, added to, or repaired by the owner or his agent, and the lot of ground on which the same is erected, being all the ground used or intended to be used in connection therewith, or necessary to the use and enjoyment thereof, to the extent of the right, title, and interest, at that time existing, of such owner, whether owner in fee or of a less estate, or lessee for a term of years, or vendee in possession under a contract of sale, shall be subject to a lien in favor of the contractor with such owner or his duly authorized agent for the contract price agreed upon between them, or, in the absence of an express contract, for the reasonable value of the work and materials furnished for and about the erection, construction, improvement, or repair of or addition to such building, or the placing of any engine, machinery, or other thing therein or in connection therewith so as to become a fixture, though capable of being detached: Provided, That the person claiming the lien shall file the notice herein prescribed.

Sec. 1238. NOTICE.-Any such contractor wishing to avail himself of the provision aforesaid, whether his claim be due or not, shall file in the office of the clerk of the supreme court of the District during the construction or within three months after the completion of such building, improvement, repairs, or addition, or the placing therein or in connection therewith of any engine, machinery, or other thing so as to become a fixture, a notice of his intention to hold a lien on the property hereby declared liable to such lien for the amount due or to become due to him, specifically setting forth the amount claimed, the name of the party against whose interest a lien is claimed, and a description of the property to be charged, and the said clerk shall file said notice and record the same in a book to be kept for the purpose.

Sec. 1239. SUBCONTRACTOR.—Any person directly employed by the original contractor, whether as subcontractor, material man, or laborer, to furnish work or materials for the completion of the work contracted for as aforesaid, shall be entitled to a similar lien to that of the original contractor upon his filing a similar notice with the clerk of the supreme court of the District to that above mentioned, subject, however, to the conditions set forth in the following sections.

Sec. 1240. CONDITIONS.-All such liens in favor of parties so employed by the contractor shall be subject to the terms and conditions of the original contract except such as shall relate to the waiver of liens and shall be limited to the amount to become due to the original contractor and be satisfied, in whole or in part, out of said amount only; and if said original contractor, by reason of any breach of the contract on his part, shall be entitled to recover less than the amount

agreed upon in his contract, the liens of said parties so employed by him shall be enforceable only for said reduced amount, and if said original contractor shall be entitled to recover nothing said liens shall not be enforceable at all.

Sec. 1241. NOTICE TO OWNER.-The said subcontractor or other person employed by the contractor as aforesaid, besides filing a notice with the clerk of the supreme court as aforesaid, shall serve the same upon the owner of the property upon which the lien is claimed, by leaving a copy thereof with said owner or his agent, if said owner or agent be a resident of the District, or if neither can be found, by posting the same on the premises; and on his failure to do so, or until he shall do so, the said owner may make payments to his contractor according to the terms of his contract, and to the extent of such payments the lien of the principal contractor shall be discharged and the amount for which the property shall be chargeable in favor of the parties so employed by him reduced.

Sec. 1242. OWNER'S DUTY.-After notice shall be filed by said party employed under the original contractor and a сору thereof served upon the owner or his agent as aforesaid, the owner shall be bound to retain out of any subsequent payments becoming due to the contractor a sufficient amount to satisfy any indebtedness due from said contractor to the said subcontractor, or other person so employed by him, secured by lien as aforesaid, otherwise the said party shall be entitled to enforce his lien to the extent of the amount so accruing to the principal contractor.

CON

Sec. 1243. SUBCONTRACTOR ENTITLED TO KNOW TERMS OF TRACT. Any subcontractor or other person employed by the contractor as aforesaid shall be entitled to demand of the owner or his authorized agent a statement of the terms under which the work contracted for is being done and the amount due or to become due to the contractor executing the same, and if the owner or his agent shall fail or refuse to give the said information, or willfully state falsely the terms of the contract or the amounts due or unpaid thereunder, the said property shall be liable to the lien of the said party demanding said information, in the same manner as if no payments had been made to the contractor before notice served on the owner as aforesaid.

Sec. 1244. ADVANCE PAYMENTS. -If the owner, for the purpose of avoiding the provisions hereof, and defeating the lien of the subcontractor or other person employed by the contractor, as aforesaid, shall make payments to the contractor in advance of the time agreed upon therefor in the contract, and the amount still due or to become due to the contractor shall be insufficient to satisfy the liens of the subcontractors or others so employed by the contractor, the property shall remain subject to said liens in the same manner as if such payments had not been made.

Sec. 1245. PRIORITY OF LIEN.-The lien hereby given shall be preferred to all judgments, mortgages, deeds of trusts, liens, and incumbrances which attach upon the building or ground affected by said lien subsequently to the commencement of the work upon the building, as well as to conveyances executed, but not recorded, before that time, to which recording is necessary, as to third persons; except that nothing herein shall affect the priority of a mortgage or deed of trust given

to secure the purchase money for the land, if the same be recorded within ten days from the date of the acknowledgment thereof. When a mortgage or deed of trust of real estate securing advances thereafter to be made for the purpose of erecting buildings and improvements thereon is given, or when an owner of lands contracts with a builder for the sale of lots and the erection of buildings thereon, and agrees to advance moneys toward the erection of such buildings, the lien hereinbefore authorized shall have priority to all advances made after the filing of said notices of lien, and the lien shall attach to the right, title, and interest of the owner in said building and land to the extent of all advances which shall have become due after the filing of such notice of such lien, and shall also attach to and be a lien on the right, title, and interest of the person so agreeing to purchase said land at the time of the filing of said notices of lien. When a building shall be erected or repaired by a lessee or tenant for life or years, or a person having an equitable estate or interest in such building or land on which it stands, the lien created by this act shall only extend to and cover the interest or estate of such lessee, tenant, or equitable owner.

Sec. 1246. How LIEN ENFORCED. The proceeding to enforce the lien hereby given shall be a bill in equity, which shall contain a brief statement of the contract on which the claim is founded, the amount due thereon, the time when the notice was filed with the clerk, and a copy thereof served on the owner or his agent, if so served, and the time when the building or the work thereon was completed, with a description of the premises and other material facts; and shall pray that the premises be sold and the proceeds of sale applied to the satisfaction of the lien. If such suit be brought by any person entitled, other than the principal contractor, the latter shall be made a party defendant, as well as all other persons who may have filed notices of liens, as aforesaid. All or any number of persons having liens on the same property may join in one suit, their respective claims being distinctly stated in separate paragraphs; and if several suits are brought by different claimants and are pending at the same time, the court may order them to be consolidated.

Sec. 1247. DECREE OF SALE. If the right of the complainant, or of any of the parties to the suit, to the lien herein provided for shall be established, the court shall decree a sale of the land and premises or the estate and interest therein of the person who, as owner, contracted for the erection, repair, improvement of, or addition to the building, as aforesaid.

Sec. 1248. SUBCONTRACTOR PREFERRED TO CONTRACTOR.-If the original contractor and the persons contracting or employed under him shall both have filed notices of liens, as aforesaid, the latter shall first be satisfied out of the proceeds of sale before the original contractor, but not in excess of the amount due him, and the balance, if any, of said amount shall be paid to him.

Sec. 1249. DISTRIBUTION.—If one, or some only, of the persons employed under the original contractor shall have served notice on the owner, as aforesaid, before payments made by him to the original contractor, said party or parties shall be entitled to priority of satisfaction out of said proceeds to the amount of such payments; but, subject to this provision, if the proceeds of sale, after paying thereout the costs