Poseur

“ The tenant-right of a cabbage-garden, a year's interest in a hovel, the good-will of an ale-house or a baker's shop, the very shadow of a constructive property, are more ceremoniously treated in our Parliament than with you the oldest and most valuable landed possessions, in the hands of the most respectable personages, or than the whole body of the moneyed and commercial interest of your country. ”

“ You probably have a room, or half a one, and a closet, and bureau drawers, and certainly clothes, which are your own. Possession means responsibility. If we find this sharp-cornered foundation-stone of truth in the depths of our own bureau drawers, it is less likely to fall heavily on us later on. Our own things and the places in which they are kept should be our own care, and not another's.
It may not be your business to do the periodical sweeping in your room, but the daily dusting and tidying the household authorities will be glad to have you do. ”

“ The description of an Object as ‘external to me’ may signify either that it is merely 'different and distinct from me as a Subject,' or that it is also 'a thing placed outside of me, and to be found elsewhere in space or time.' Taken in the first sense, the term Possession signifies 'rational Possession;' and, in the second sense, it must mean 'Empirical Possession.' A rational or intelligible Possession, if such be possible, is Possession viewed apart from physical holding or detention (detentio) . ”

“ Every mediate possessor stands in relation to a direct possessor through whom he holds. If I deposit goods with an agent, he is in possession of them as well as I. He possesses for me, and I possess through him. A similar duplicate possession exists in the case of master and servant, landlord and tenant, bailor and bailee, pledgor and pledgee. In all such cases, however, there is an important distinction to be noticed. Mediate possession exists as against third persons only, and not as against the immediate possessor. ”

“ A schedule of five columns, such we are familiar with, would set forth ‘Owner’s Name,’ ‘Place of Residence,’ ‘Description of Geldable Property,’ ‘Hidage,’ ‘Amount due.’ But the occupier is not always the owner; what is more, there is no absolute ownership. Two, three, four persons will be interested in the land; the occupier will have a lord and that lord a lord; the occupier may be a serf, a villein, a sokeman; there is commendation to be considered and soke and all the infinite varieties of the power to ‘withdraw’ the land from the lord. ”

“ The kind and frequency of the acts of occupancy necessary to constitute a continuous possession depend somewhat on the condition of the property, and the uses to which it is adapted in reference to the circumstances and situation of the possessor, and partly on his intention. ”

“ Toullier: "Property is a right, a legal power; possession is a fact." The tenant, the farmer, the commandite, the usufructuary, are possessors; the owner who lets and lends for use, the heir who is to come into possession on the death of a usufructuary, are proprietors. If I may venture the comparison: a lover is a possessor, a husband is a proprietor. ”

“ One must begin far back. In early [Pg 76] feudal times the cultivator of another's land was either a serf or a person of no importance, holding at his lord's will. The tenant's position improved with the times, leases were granted, and if their conditions were broken, a Writ of Covenant, as the form of action was called, secured him in possession, and gave him damages for his wrongs. ”

“ Almost all the real property of this kingdom is by the policy of our laws supposed to be granted by, dependent upon, and holden of some superior lord, by and in consideration of certain services to be rendered to the lord by the tenant or possessor of this property. ”

“ The popular maxim that "possession is nine-tenths of the law," is founded on the salutary and reasonable doctrine of the law, that the party in possession of property is presumed to be the owner until the contrary shall have been proved. ”

“ If the master be absent from home, the dwellers in the house shall let him search the unsealed property, and on the sealed property the searcher shall set another seal, and shall appoint any one whom he likes to guard them during five days; and if the master of the house be absent during a longer time, he shall take with him the wardens of the city, and so make his search, opening the sealed property as well as the unsealed, and then, together with the members of the family and the wardens of the city, he shall seal them up again as they were before. ”

“ If a man lay claim to any animal or anything else which he declares to be his, let the possessor refer to the seller or to some honest and trustworthy person, who has given, or in some legitimate way made over the property to him; if he be a citizen or a metic, sojourning in the city, within thirty days, or, if the property have been delivered to him by a stranger, within five months, of which the middle month shall include the summer solstice. ”

“ Delighting me with such pleasing Converse, as to which I was at a Loss, whether the more to admire the ingenious Wisdom, or the Christianlike Kindliness of so worthy a Man, the Proprietor led the Way to the Village of which he appeared to be the Owner—or, I would be saying, rather the Owner of the Villagers; being, as one might say, like to a Slave-owner. ”

“ This we are assured is the sole cause why the "possessor, so far from living with increased comfort, studies the means by which he may appear indigent: his dress, lodging, and furniture continue to be mean, and he is careful, above all things, never to indulge in the pleasures of the table." ”

“ It seems so strange that I, of all people, should be a trespasser and a poacher, for when at home I am a stern upholder of the rights of property. I own several estates in England, and am a very pig-headed Tory when any of my privileges are threatened ”

“ With regard to property, the savage tribe only, know but one law or rule, and that is the doctrine of occupancy. The first occupant of any article, with these people, is considered to be him who can possess himself of any property not in the actual manual possession of another ”

“ The Corpus of Possession. To constitute possession the animus domini is not in itself sufficient, but must be embodied in a corpus. The claim of the possessor must be effectively realised in the facts; that is to say, it must be actually and continuously exercised. The will is sufficient only when manifested in an appropriate environment of fact, just as the fact is sufficient only when it is the expression and embodiment of the required intent and will. Possession is the effective realisation in fact of the animus sibi habendi. ”

“ A little kindness and condescension on the part of the proprietor, might convert a discontented trespasser, into a useful tenant or purchaser. That this has happened in many instances, I know; which induces me to think, that were the trial made, it would happen in many more. Where large property of this kind, is in the hands of heads of families with several children, one or two of the sons might manage the estate to great advantage, by living on the spot. Agents are expensive, and often unfaithful. But one may confide in his own blood. ”

“ Men come and bask in the halo of consols and acres that beams round about him: the reverence is transferred with the estate; of which, with all its advantages, pleasures, respect, and good-will, he in turn becomes the life-tenant. How long do you wish or expect that your people will regret you? ”

“ The owner of each plot of land owns a deed for the same, stamped with the magistrate's seal or signed with his name. In many instances where property has been in the same family for several centuries, these deeds may have been lost or destroyed; but if the land is sold, new deeds must be issued. ”

“ A possessor judgment is one which entitles a person who has been in possession under a written title for seven years to continue his possession (Watson, Law Dict., s.v. “Possessory Judgment”) .
United States.—Here the law in general agrees with that of England. Possessory rights are taxed in some of the states. Louisiana follows Roman law closely. Possession of incorporeal rights (to use the unscientific language of the Code) is called quasipossession, and the division of possession into natural and civil is maintained (Civil Code, ss. 3389–3419) . ”

“ The meaning of the rule that all bailees have the possessory remedies is, that in the theory of the common law every bailee has a true possession, and that a bailee recovers on the strength of his possession, just as a finder does, and as even a wrongful possessor may have full damages or a return of the specific thing from a stranger to the title. ”

“ For when the tenant shall make homage to his lord, he shall be ungirt, and his head uncovered, and his lord shall sit, and the tenant shall kneel before him on both his knees, and hold his hands jointly together between the hands of his lord, and shall say thus: I become your man (Jeo deveign vostre home) from this day forward of life and limbe, and of earthly worship and unto you shall be true and faithfuU, and beare to you faith for the tenements that I claime to hold of you, saving the faith that I owe unto our soveraigne lord the king ”

“ When a tenant meets the landlord whom he has deserted in the critical momont of the contest the landlord to whom he has solemnly promised his support, and who, perhaps, as a member of the legislature, has advocated his claims and his rights, and who, probably, has been kind and indulgent to him—I say, when he meets him afterwards, his shufflings, excuses, and evasions are grievous. ”

“ He who shall fail to comply, and whose crest and coat-armour shall not be up before sunset, shall have no right to enter the lists as a tenant of the field in any manner of way whatsoever, except always as to pages or squires, to whom, for this day and to-morrow, the lists shall be open, to give all such an opportunity of proving their manhood. ”

“ A servant is denied possession, not from any peculiarity of intent with regard to the things in his custody, either towards his master or other people, by which he is distinguished [228] from a depositary, but simply as one of the incidents of his status. ”

“ Questions as to the property in fixtures principally arise— (1) between landlord and tenant, (2) between heir and executor, (3) between executor and remainder-man or reversioner, (4) between seller and buyer.
1. At common law, if the tenant has affixed anything to the freehold during his occupation, he cannot remove it without the permission of his landlord. But an exception was established in favour of trade fixtures. ”

“ The tenure of an estate in copyholds involves an oath of fealty from the tenant, and together also with suit to the customary court of the manor. Another incident of the tenure, and this [Pg 91] sometimes a very profitable one, is the escheat to the lord on failure of heirs. ”

“ The possession of one tenant in common recognizing the title of his co-tenants, is in legal consideration the possession of all; that persons under the same title, without partition, cannot prescribe against each other. ”

“ For lands held by knight's service, if the heir is under 14, then the lord shall have the ward and marriage of the heir until the heir is 21, if male, or 14 (changed to 16 in 1285) , if female. When of age, the heir shall pay relief.
7. A lease for a term of years is a real chattel rather than a free tenement, and may pass without livery of seisin.
8. He who has possession of land, though it is by disseisin, has right against all men but against him who has right.
9. If a tenant is past due his rent, the lord may distrain his beasts which are on the land. ”

“ The number of men-servants in a family varies according to the wealth and position of the master, from the owner of the ducal mansion, with a retinue of attendants, at the head of which is the chamberlain and house-steward, to the occupier of the house, where a single footman is the only male retainer. ”

“ Why have we so many lawyers, but to secure our property? why so many formalities, but to secure our property? Not less than one hundred thousand families live in opulence, elegance, and ease, merely by securing our property. ”

“ HAving been tenant long to a rich Lord,
⁠Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,
⁠And make a suit unto him, to afford
A new small-rented lease, and cancell th' old.
In heaven at his manour I him sought:
⁠They told me there, that he was lately gone
⁠About some land, which he had deerly bought
Long since on earth, to take possession.
I straight return'd, and knowing his great birth,
⁠Sought him accordingly in great resorts;
⁠In cities, theatres, gardens, parks, and courts:
At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth
⁠Of theeves and murderers: there I him espied,
⁠Who straight, Your suit is granted, said, & died. ”

“ Like a layman, he has his own domicile and fireside, his parsonage in the country with a garden, or an apartment in town—in any event, his own home and household, a servant or housekeeper, who is often either his mother or a sister ”

“ Before that, it was the custom for the glazed casements to be carried about from manor to manor along with the other furniture; every man of rank, whether civil or ecclesiastical, was in the habit of travelling with all his retinue, from one estate to another, so as to consume the produce of each estate upon the spot. ”

“ The tenantry had also their feasting and their dancing; but these had to pay for their amusement: each tenant, according to the custom of the manor, on the marriage of their lord, being obliged to bring an offering in proportion to the land which he held. ”