Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface and acknowledgments
- Table of cases
- Table of statutes
- Table of statutory instruments
- 1 Meaning of possession
- 2 Protection of possession
- 3 Possession, title and freehold land
- 4 Leases and licences
- 5 Mortgages and charges
- 6 Equity and trusts
- 7 Birth and death, dissolution and insolvency
- 8 Adverse possession and prescription
- 9 Possession judgments
- 10 Summary and conclusions
- Index
1 - Meaning of possession
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface and acknowledgments
- Table of cases
- Table of statutes
- Table of statutory instruments
- 1 Meaning of possession
- 2 Protection of possession
- 3 Possession, title and freehold land
- 4 Leases and licences
- 5 Mortgages and charges
- 6 Equity and trusts
- 7 Birth and death, dissolution and insolvency
- 8 Adverse possession and prescription
- 9 Possession judgments
- 10 Summary and conclusions
- Index
Summary
Introduction
It has been said, rightly, that there is no law of ownership of land in England and Wales, only a law of possession. Yet ‘difficult problems arise in English real property law on the concept of possession’. The following chapters explore some of these problems, and suggest some solutions. But this chapter is concerned with the principal cause of those problems; the different meanings, and inconsistent usage, of the term ‘possession’ in English land law.
Different meanings
In English land law, we use the term ‘possession’ in three quite distinct and separate senses: first, in its proper, technical sense, as a description of the relationship between a person and an estate in land; secondly, in its vulgar sense of physical occupation of tangible land; and, thirdly, to refer to fictional ‘constructive’ possession, which is almost, but not entirely, of historical interest only.
First meaning: a relationship with a corporeal estate
This is the proper, technical meaning of the word ‘possession’ in English land law.
The fundamental point about ‘possession’ in this sense is that it does not describe the relationship between a person and any tangible property, such as a field, or a building, or a road. The combined effect of the doctrines of tenures and of estates is that there is no absolute ownership of land; only ownership of greater or lesser rights in it.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Possession of Land , pp. 1 - 18Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006