Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

POSSESSION VAUT TITRE

914

POSSESSIO PACIFICA, ETC.

erty in a manner in which he is not entitled to possess it, and without anything to show that he possesses it otherwise than as owner, i. e., with the intention of excluding all per sons from it, including the rightful owner, he is in adverse possession of it. Thus, if A. is in possession of a field of B.'s, he is in adverse possession of it, unless there is some thing to show that his possession is consistent with a recognition of B.'s title. Sweet. In jurisprudence, the possession of a lessee, bailee, licensee, etc., is called "derivative possession," while in law the possessory in terest of such a person, considered with ref erence to his rights against third persons who interfere with his possession, is usually called a "special" or "qualifiedproperty," meaning a limited right of ownership. Holl. Jur. 160-163. In the older books, "possession" is some times used as the synonym of "seisin;" but, strictly speaking, they are entirely different terms. "The difference between possession and seisin is: Lessee for years is possessed, and yet the lessor is still seised; and therefore the terms of law are that of chattels a man is possessed, whereas in feoffments, gifts in tail, and leases for life he is described as • seised.' " Noy, Max. 64. "Possession" is used in some of the books in the sense of property. "A possession is an hereditament or chattel." Finch, Law, b. 2, c. 3. Possession is a good title where no better title appears. 20 Vin. Abr. 278. Possession is nine-tenths of the law This adage is not to be taken as true to the full extent, so as to mean that the person in possession can only be ousted by one whose title is nine times better than his, but it places in a strong light the legal truth that every claimant must succeed by the strength of his own title, and not by the weakness of his antagonist's. Wharton. POSSESSION MONEY. In English law. The man whom the sheriff puts in pos session of goods taken under a writ of fier facias is entitled, while he continues so in possession, to a certain sum of money per diem, which is thence termed "possession money." The amount is 3s. 6d. per day if hfc is boarded, or 5s. per day if he is not board ed. Brown. POSSESSION VAUT TITRE. Vr. In English law, as in most systems of jurispru dence, the fact of possession raises a prima facie title or a presumption of the right of

Possessio paoiflca pour anns 60 facit jus. Peaceable possession for sixty years gives a right. Jenk. Cent. 26. POSSESSION. The detention and con trol, or the manual or ideal custody, of any thing which may be the subject of property, for one's use and enjoyment, either as owner or as the proprietor of a qualified right in it, and either held personally or by another who exercises it in one's place and name. That condition of facts under which one can exer cise his power over a corporeal thing at his pleasure to the exclusion of all other per sons. There are two kinds of possession of real property known to the law,— actual and con structive. It is actual when in the immedi ate occupancy of the party. It is actual where the party goes upon the land to take possession and exercises acts of ownership over it. It is actual also where one having the title is in possession of lands by his ten ant, agent, or steward. Constructive posses sion is where one claims to hold by virtue of some title, without having the actual occu pancy, as when the owner of a tract of land, regularly laid out, is in possession of a part, he is constructively in possession of the whole. 30 Iowa, 241. It is either actual, where a person enters into lands or tenements descended or conveyed to him; apparent, which is a species of presumptive title where land descended to the heir of an abator, in truder, or disseisor, who died seised; in law, when lands, etc., have descended to a man, and he has not actually entered into them; or naked, that is, mere possession, without color of right. Whar ton. In the law of Louisiana, (as in the civil law,) possession is divided into two kinds,— natural and civil. Natural possession is that by which a man detains a thing corporeal; as, by occupying a house, cultivating ground, or retaining a movable in his possession. Nat ural possession is also defined to be the cor poreal detention of a thing which we possess as belonging to us, without any title to that possession, or with a title which is void. Civil possession exists when a person ceases to reside in a house or on the land which he occupied, or to detain the movable which he possessed, but without intending to abandon the possession. It is the detention of a thing by virtue of a just title and under the convic tion of possessing as owner. Civil Code La. art. 3391, et seq. Adverse possession is a possession incon sistent with the right of the true owner. In other words, where a person possesses prop

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