Page:Black's Law Dictionary (Second Edition).djvu/925

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POSSESSION

"Possessioii" is used in some of the books in the sense of property. "A posscsslon is an hercdiuiiueut or chntte ." Finch, Law, b. 2, c. 3.

Possession is a good title where no better title appears. 20 Vin. Alir. 278.

Pollesslon in nine-tenths of the law. This ud.Ige is not to be taken as true to the full extent, so as to mean that the peison in punurdon can only he ousted by one Whose title is ulue times [letter than his, but it places in H strong light the legal truth that every claimant must succeed by the strength of his own title, uud not by the weakness of his uutuguuisrs. Wharton.

POSSESSION VAUT TITRE. Fr. In English law, as in most systems of jurispru- dence, the fact of possession rulses a mima facie title or 51 presuuiption of the right of property ln the thing possessed. In other W(\l‘li3, the possession is as good as the title (about) Brown.

POSSESSOR One who possesses: who has pnssi

—PnsIessor ho:-in tide. He ls 1: berm fida possessor viho possesses as own‘r by virtue.ot an act sllfiicient in terms to transfer property. the defects of wluch he was ignorant of. He cu-apes to be a bona fide possessor from we moment these defects are made known to him. or are declared to him by a suit lnstit d for the recovery of the thing by the owner. (‘iv. Code La. art. 03.—-Possessnx- main tide. 'llie possessor In bud faith is he who possosscs as master, but who assumes this quality, when be well knows that he has no title to the thing, or that his title vicious and defective. Civ Code La. art. 34

0116

POSSESSORY. Relnilug to possession; founded on possession, contemplating or clalmlug possession.

-—Possessory action. See next titlc_-—Pnssessory claim. The ritle of :1. pre-amptor of public lands who bas filed his declaratory statement but has not paid for Ibo land. Enoch v. Spokane ls . Ky. ('o.. 6 Wash. 393. 33 I‘nc. 9GG.—Pos5casory judgment. In Scotch practice. A ind.-zmc-nt whirl: r-umles a person who has Iiiiintel'i'1iptedLv boon in possession for seven _\ears to continue his possession until the question of righi he doc-id:-11 in due course of aw. 5-ll.—Pnssessoz'y lien. One which attaches to such fll'Ii('ie5 of auolhs~r's as may be at the lime in the possession of the liennr, as, for example, an ntlm-m=y's lien on the pfl1‘ll‘l‘S and douuncuts of the client in his possession. \\ end Sowing lllilch. Co. v. Boulelle. 56 Vt 570. 4-‘1 Am. Rep b.£1.

POSSESSOEY ACTION. An action which has for its immediate object to obtain or recouzr the actual posstarsion of the sub- 1E1 t-matter: lis distinguished from an action which merely seeks to vindicate the plain- lilT‘s title, or which involves the hare right only; the latter being called 11 "petit0ry" action.

An action founded on possession. Trespass for injuries to personal property is call-

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POSSIBILITY

ed a "possessory" action. because It lies only for 21 plaintiff who, at the moment of the injury coinphiined of, was in actual or constructive, immediate, and exclusive possession. 1 Chit. Pl. 168, 169.

In admiralty practice. A possessory suit is one which is brought to recover the possession of a vessel, had under 21 claim of title. The Tilton, 5 Mason, 465. Fed. C215. No. 14,054; 1 Kent, Comm. 371.

old English law. A real action which had for its object the regaining possession of the freehold, of which the demzimlaut or his ancestors had been unjustly deprived by the present tenant or possessor thereof.

In Scotch law. An action for the vindication and recovery of the possession of heritable or movable goods; e. 9., the action of molestation. Pnters. Comp.

In Louisiana. An action by which one claims to be maintained in the possession of an immovable property, or of a right upon or growing out of it, when he has been disturbed, or to be reinstated to that possession, when he has been divested or evicted. Code Pioc. Ia. § 6.

POSSIBILITAS. Lat. Possibility; ii possibility. Possibililas post dissolutionem cancclitiunis mmquum. reririscatur. a possi- hlljiy will never be revived after the dissolution of its execution. 1 Rollo. 321. Post 9.1-(-mmancm stat-us, lam non pniitur passi- bilitatcm, after the execution of an estate the law does not suffer a possibility. 3 Bulst 108.

POSSIBILITY. An unceitain thing which may happen A Contingent Interest lu real or personal estate. Kiuzle v. \\ lu- ston. 14 Fed. Cas. 651; Bodcuhnnicr v. Welch, 89 N. C. 78; Needles v. Needles. '1' Ohio St. -142, 70 Am. Dec. S5.

It is cilher ‘il('(l’!‘, (or o1'iliiM17'iJ.) as where an esiate is limited to one after the death of another, or remote, (or e.rt11mrrI*i11ury) as where it is limited to in man, provided he l'l‘Ifll'l'i(‘3 a certain woman, and that she shall die and he shall marry another.

—Bare_ possibility. The same us :1 "naked" pus I t_v. See in]rIi.—Naked possibility. A bare chance, or expectation of acquiring 1 property u1'_sIu:(-ecd.ing to an estate in the future, but without uny present right in or to it which the law would recognize as -in r-stane or interest. ' '

See Rogers v. Fe-lion. 98 I\ . 1-18, 32 S. W. <1Dii.-—Passibility coupled with an interest. An expectation re('o,','nized in In" as an estate or intnrrst. such as 0L('lll§ in executorv devises and shifting or springing uses: sud; a possibility may be sold or assigned —I'ossi- bility of revertel‘. _'I_‘his term denotes no estate, but only a possibility to have the eslule at ii fixture time. Of such possibilities there are several kinds, of which too are usuall_\ donated by the term under consideration. (l) the possibility that a common-law fee may return to the grantnr by breach of a condition subject to which it was granted. (2) the possibility that e r-ominon-law fce other tbau a fee simple may reveit to the gruntor by the natural determina-