Possession as the Origin of Property

Abstract

For the common law, possession or "occupancy" is the origin of property. This notion runs through a number of fascinating old cases in property law. Possession thus means a clear act, whereby all the world understands that the pursuer has "an unequivocal intention of appropriating the animal to his individual use." A clear rule of this sort should be applied, said the court's majority, because it prevents confusions and quarrels among hunters. The clear-act principle suggests that the common law defines acts of possession as some kind of statement. As Blackstone said, the acts must be a declaration of one's intent to appropriate. Possession begins to look even more like something that requires a kind of communication, and the original claim to the property looks like a kind of speech, with the audience composed of all others who might be interested in claiming the object in question.

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