Legal Definitions - lessor of the plaintiff

The term lessor of the plaintiff is a historical legal concept referring to the actual person who was seeking to recover possession of land in a common law action known as "ejectment."

Historically, due to specific procedural rules, a person who truly owned land and wanted to remove someone unlawfully occupying it could not directly sue for possession. Instead, they had to employ a legal fiction:

• The true owner (the lessor of the plaintiff) would pretend to grant a short-term lease of a small portion of the disputed land to a fictional person.
• This fictional person (often given names like "John Doe" or "Richard Roe") would then become the formal "plaintiff" in the lawsuit.
• This fictional plaintiff would then sue the unlawful occupant, claiming they had been "ejected" from their fictitious leasehold.

Through this elaborate legal maneuver, the court could indirectly determine who had the superior right to the land, even though the true owner's name wasn't formally listed as the plaintiff. The lessor of the plaintiff was, therefore, the real party in interest, using a legal proxy to pursue their claim.

Examples:

• Disputed Inheritance: Imagine a scenario in 18th-century England where Lady Beatrice believes she is the rightful heir to a country estate, but her distant cousin, Mr. Alistair, has taken possession. Lady Beatrice cannot directly sue Mr. Alistair to claim the land. Instead, she (the lessor of the plaintiff) would grant a fictitious lease to a made-up person, "John Doe." John Doe would then sue Mr. Alistair, claiming Mr. Alistair unlawfully ejected him from his leasehold. In this case, Lady Beatrice is the true party seeking to recover her ancestral property, using John Doe as her legal stand-in.

• Squatter on Vacant Land: Consider a merchant, Mr. Henderson, who owns a plot of undeveloped land on the outskirts of a town. A squatter, Mrs. Gable, has built a small cabin on a corner of Mr. Henderson's property. To legally remove Mrs. Gable and assert his ownership, Mr. Henderson (the lessor of the plaintiff) would create a fictitious lease for a small part of the occupied land to "Richard Roe." Richard Roe would then initiate an ejectment action against Mrs. Gable. While Richard Roe is the named plaintiff, it is Mr. Henderson who is the actual owner seeking to reclaim his land.

• Boundary Dispute: Suppose two neighboring landowners, Lord Ashworth and Sir Charles, have a long-standing disagreement over the exact boundary line between their estates, specifically concerning a small copse of trees. Lord Ashworth believes the copse falls within his property and wants to establish his title. To do this, Lord Ashworth (the lessor of the plaintiff) would grant a fictitious lease of a portion of the disputed copse to "William Stiles." William Stiles would then sue Sir Charles, alleging that Sir Charles unlawfully ejected him from his leased land. The court's decision in this fictitious lawsuit would effectively determine the true ownership of the copse, with Lord Ashworth being the real party driving the legal challenge.