Possession
The concept of possession developed from a legal system whose principal concern was to avoid civil disorder. The general principle is that a person in possession of land or goods, even as a wrongdoer, is entitled to take action against anyone interfering with the possession unless the person interfering is able to demonstrate a superior right to do so.
In England, the Torts Act of 1977 has significantly amended the law relating to wrongful interference with goods and abolished some longstanding remedies and doctrines.
Read more about this topic: Personal Property Law
Famous quotes containing the word possession:
“Most men have always wanted as much as they could get; and possession has always blunted the fine edge of their altruism.”
—Katharine Fullerton Gerould (18791944)
“Let it be signified to me through any channel ... that the possession of the Floridas would be desirable to the United States, and in sixty days it will be accomplished.
...penned in the language of truth, and divested of those expressions of servility which would persuade his majesty that we are asking favors and not rights.”
—Thomas Jefferson (17431826)
“It is not her body that he wants but it is only through her body that he can take possession of another human being, so he must labor upon her body, he must enter her body, to make his claim.”
—Joyce Carol Oates (b. 1938)