Nature and Importance of Legal Possession

Authors

Joseph W. Bingham, Leland Stanford Jr University

Abstract

The careful student of our law of property needs no demonstration of the importance of legal possession. From before the date of the earliest year book the word possession and its synonym seisin have pervaded legal language and have signified matters of great consequence in the decision of cases. "In the history of our law," say Pollock and Maitland, "there is no idea more cardinal than that of seisin. Even in the law of the present day it plays a part which must be studied by every lawyer; but in the past it was so important that we may almost say that the whole system of our land law was law about seisin and its consequences."' The literature of the subject is extensive, and as much patient care has been devoted to its intricate details as to any legal natter. Briefly, the law of legal possession was and is the fundamental part of our law of property. Yet, before a critical student has ventured far into its mysteries, he will discover this marvelous paradox. In spite of its pervading importance and the accumulated learning of the

Recommended Citation

Joseph W. Bingham, Nature and Importance of Legal Possession, 13 Mich. L. Rev. 535 (1915).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol13/iss7/1