Legal Term Dictionary

Lat Of positive law. "That was a rule positivi juris; I do not mean to say an unjust one." Lord Ellen-borough, 12 East, 639. Posito nno oppositomm, negatnr alteram. One of two opposite positions being affirmed, the other is denied. 3 Rolle, 422.

Lat Of positive law. "That was a rule positivi juris; I do not mean to say an unjust one." Lord Ellen-borough, 12 East, 639. Posito nno oppositomm, negatnr alteram. One of two opposite positions being affirmed, the other is denied. 3 Rolle, 422. Less...

Lat A possibility. A thing is said to be la posse when it may possibly be; in esse when it actually is.

Lat A possibility. A thing is said to be la posse when it may possibly be; in esse when it actually is. Less...

Lat The power or force of the county. The entire population of a county above the age of fifteen, which a sheriff may summon to his assistance in certain cases; as to aid him in keeping the peace, In pursuing and arresting felons, etc. 1 Bl. Comm. 343. See Com. More...

Lat The power or force of the county. The entire population of a county above the age of fifteen, which a sheriff may summon to his assistance in certain cases; as to aid him in keeping the peace, In pursuing and arresting felons, etc. 1 Bl. Comm. 343. See Com. v. Martin, 7 Pa. Dist R. 224. Less...

To occupy in person; to have in one's actual and physical control; to have the exclusive detention and control of; als" to own or be entitled to. See Fuller v. Fuller, 84 Me. 475, 24 Atl. 946; Brantly v. Kee" 58 N. C. 337.

To occupy in person; to have in one's actual and physical control; to have the exclusive detention and control of; als" to own or be entitled to. See Fuller v. Fuller, 84 Me. 475, 24 Atl. 946; Brantly v. Kee" 58 N. C. 337. Less...

This word is applied to the .right and enjoyment of a termor, or a person having a term, who is said to be possessed, and not seised. Bac. Tr. 335; Poph. 76; Dyer, 369.

This word is applied to the .right and enjoyment of a termor, or a person having a term, who is said to be possessed, and not seised. Bac. Tr. 335; Poph. 76; Dyer, 369. Less...

Lat In the civil law, That condition of fact under which one can exercise his power over a corporeal thing at his pleasure, to the exclusion of all others. This condition of fact is called "detention,'* and it forms the substance of possession in all its varieties. Mackeld. Rom. Law, More...

Lat In the civil law, That condition of fact under which one can exercise his power over a corporeal thing at his pleasure, to the exclusion of all others. This condition of fact is called "detention,'* and it forms the substance of possession in all its varieties. Mackeld. Rom. Law, 5 23a "Possession," in the sense of "detention," is the actual exercise of such a power as the owner has a right to exercise. The term "possessio" occurs in the Roman jurists in various senses. There is possessio simply, and possessio civilis, and possessio naturalis. Possessio denoted, originally, bare detention. But this detention, under certain conditions, becomes a legal state, inasmuch as it leads to ownership, through usucapio. Accordingly, the word "possessio" which required no qualification so long as there was no other notion attached to possessio, requires such qualification when detention becomes a legal state. This detention, then, when it has the conditions necessary to usucapio, is called "possessio civilis;" and all other possessio as opposed to civilis is naturalis. Sandars, Just Inst. 274. Wharton. In old English law. Possession; seisin. The detention of a corporeal thing by means of a physical act and mental intent, aided by some support of right. Bract, fol. 38b. -Pedis possessio. A foothold; an actual possession of real property, implying either actual occupancy or enclosure and use. See Lawrence v. Fulton, 19 Cal. 690; Porter v. Kennedy, 1 McMul. (S. C.) 357.-Possessio bona fide. Possession in good faith. Possessio mala fide, possession in bad faith. A possessor bona fide is one who believes that no other person has a better right to the possession than himself. A possessor mala fide is one who knows that he is not entitled to the possession. Mackeld. Rom. Law, $ 243.-Possessio bonornm. o In the civil law. The possession of goods. More commonly termed "bonorum possessio" {g. v.) -Possessio civilis. In Roman law. A legal possession, t. e., a possessing accompanied with the intention to be or to thereby become owner; and, as so understood, it was distinguished from "possessio naturalis," otherwise called "nuda detentio," which was a possessing without any such intention. Possessio civilis was the basis of usucapio or of longi temporis possessio, and was usually (but not necessarily) adverse possession. Brown.-Possessio fratris. The possession or seisin of a brother; that is, such possession of an estate by a brother as would entitle his sister of the whole blood to succeed him as heir, to the exclusion of a half-brother. Hence, derivatively, that doctrine of the older English law of descent which shut out the half-blood from the succession* to estates; a doctrine which was abolished by the descent act, 3 A 4 Wm. IV. c. 106. See 1 Steph. Comm. 385; Broom, Max. 532.-Possessio long! temporis. See USUCAPIO.-Possessio naturalis. See POSSESSIO CIVILIS. Possessio fratris de feodo simplioi fadt sororem esse hseredem. The brother's possession of an estate in fee-simple makes the sister to be heir. 3 Coke, 41; Broom, Max. 532. Possessio paeinoa pour anus 60 faoit jus. Peaceable possession for sixty years gives a right. Jenk. Cent. 26. Less...

The detention and control, or the manual or ideal custody, of anything 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 More...

The detention and control, or the manual or ideal custody, of anything 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 exercise his power over a corporeal thing at his pleasure to the exclusion of all other persons. See Staton v. Mullis, 92 N. C 632; .Sunol v. Hepburn, 1 Cal. 263; Cox v. Devln-ney, 65 N. J. Law, 389, 47 Ati. 570; Churchill v. Onderdonk, 59 N. Y. 136; Rice v. Frayser (C. C.) 24 Fed. 460; Travers v. McElvaln, 181 111. 382, 55 N. E. 135; Emmerson v. State, 33 Tex. Cr. R. 89, 25 S. W. 289; Slater r. Rawson, 6 Mete. (Mass.) 444 Actual possession. This term, as used in the provisions of Rev. St. N. Y. p. 312, ? 1, authorizing proceedings to compel the determination of claims to real property, means a possession in fact effected by actual entry upon the premises; an actual occupation. Churchill v. Onderdonk, 59 N. Y. 134. It means an actual occupation or possession in fact, as contradistinguished from that constructive one which the legal title draws after it. The word "actual" is used in the statute in opposition to virtual or constructive, and calls for an open, visible occupancy. Cleveland v. Crawford, 7 Hun (N. Y.) 616.-Adverse possession. The actual, open, and notorious possession and enjoyment of real property, or of any estate lying in grant, continued for a certain length of time, held adversely and in denial and opposition to the title of another claimant, or under circumstances which indicate an assertion or color of right or title on the part of the person maintaining it, as against another person who is out of possession. Costello v. Edson, 44 Minn. 135, 46 N. W. 299: Taylor v. Philippi, 35 W. Va. 554, 14 S. E 130: Pickett v. Pope, 74 Ala. 122; Martin v. Maine Cent. R. Co., 83 Me. 100, 21 Atl. 740; Dixon v. Cook, 47 Miss. 220.-Chose in possession. A thing (subject of personal property) in actual possession, as distinguished from a "chose in action," which is not presently in the owner's possession, but which he has a right to demand, receive, or recover by suit.-Civil Possession. In modern civil law and in the iw of Louisiana, that possession which 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 conviction of possessing as owner. Civ. Code La. art. 3391 et seq.-Constructive possession. Possession not actual but assumed to exist, where one claims to hold by virtue of some title, without having the actual occupancy, as, where the owner of a tract of land, regularly laid out, is in possession of a part, he is constructively in possession of the whole. Fleming v. Maddox, 30 Iowa, 241.-Derivative possession. The kind of possession of one who is in the lawful occupation or custody of the property, but not under a claim of title of his own, but under a right derived from another, as, for example, a tenant, bailee, licensee, 6 POSSESSION etc.-Dispossession. The act of ousting or removing one from the possession of property previously held by him, which may be tortious and unlawful, as in tbe case of a forcible amotion, or in pursuance of law, as where a landlord "dispossesses" his tenant at the expiration of the term or for other cause by the aid of judicial process.-Estate in possession. An estate whereby a present interest passes to and resides in the tenant, not depending on any subsequent circumstance or contingency; an estate where tbe tenant is in actual pernancy or receipt of the rents and profits.-Naked possession. The actual occupation of real estate, but without any apparent or colorable right to hold and continue such possession; spoken of as the lowest and most imperfect degree of title. 2 Bl. Comm. 195; Bird well v. Burleson, 31 Tex. Civ. App. 31, 72 S. W. 446.-Natural possession. That by which a man detains a thing corporeally, as, by occupying a house, cultivating ground, or retaining a movable in possession; natural possession is also defined to be the corporeal detention of a thing which we possess as belonging to us, without any title to that possession or'with a title which is void. Civ. Code La. 1900, arts. 3428, 3430. And see Railroad Co. v. Le Rosen, 52 La. Ann. 192, 26 South. 854; Sunol v. Hepburn, 1 Cal. .262.-Open possession. Possession of real property is said to be "open" when held without concealment or attempt at secrecy, or without being covered up in the name of a third personl or otherwise attempted to be withdrawn from sight, but in such a manner that any person interested can ascertain who is actually in possession by proper observation and inquiry. See Bass v. Pease, 79 IU. App. 318 An estate which has been abandoned, vacated, or forsaken by the tenant. In the older books, "possession" is sometimes 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 nsed 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. Less...

Fr. In English law, as in most systems of jurisprudence, the fact of possession raises a prima facie title or a presumption of the right of property In the thing possessed. In other words, the possession is as good as the title (about.) Brown.

Fr. In English law, as in most systems of jurisprudence, the fact of possession raises a prima facie title or a presumption of the right of property In the thing possessed. In other words, the possession is as good as the title (about.) Brown. Less...

One who possesses; one who has possession. -Possessor bona fide. He is a bona fide .possessor who possesses as owner by virtue of an'act sufficient in terms to transfer property, the defects of which he was ignorant of. He ceases to be a bona fide possessor from the moment these More...

One who possesses; one who has possession. -Possessor bona fide. He is a bona fide .possessor who possesses as owner by virtue of an'act sufficient in terms to transfer property, the defects of which he was ignorant of. He ceases to be a bona fide possessor from the moment these defects are made known to him, or are declared to him by a suit instituted for the recovery of the thing by the owner. Civ. -Code La. art. 503.-Possessor mala fide. The possessor in bad faith is he who possesses as master, but who assumes this quality, when he.well knows that he has no title to the thing, or that his title is vicious and defective. Civ. -Code La. art. 3452. Less...

Relating to possession; founded On possession; contemplating 'or oclaiming possession. -Possessory action. See next title.-Possessory olaim. The title of a pre-emptor of public lands who has filed his declaratory statement but has not 'paid for the land. Enoch v. Pofcaue Falls & N. Ry. Co., 6 Wash. 393, 33 ac. More...

Relating to possession; founded On possession; contemplating 'or oclaiming possession. -Possessory action. See next title.-Possessory olaim. The title of a pre-emptor of public lands who has filed his declaratory statement but has not 'paid for the land. Enoch v. Pofcaue Falls & N. Ry. Co., 6 Wash. 393, 33 ac. 966.-Possessory judgment. In Scotch practice. A judgment which entitles a person who has uninterruptedly been in possession for seven years to continue his possession until the question of right be decided in due course of few. Bell.-Possessory lien. One which attaches to such articles of another's as may be at the time in the possession of the lienor, as, ..for example, an attorney's lien on the papers and documents of the client in his possession. Weed Sewing Mach. Co. v. Boutelle, 56 Vt. 570, 48 Am. Rep. 821. Less...