Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 122

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Volume 2, Page 122

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[001] to retain (freely and quietly, properly and peacefully) what we do possess. For
[002] the restoration of possession, process is by action; for its retention it is twofold,
[003] exception or interdict. An exception is given for many reasons.¹⁶

How possession is divided.

[005] Possession is divided into civil and natural possession. Civil is that retained by
[006] intention alone, natural by physical occupation, and [thus] it is sometimes rightful,
[007] sometimes wrongful.¹⁷ One may possess in both ways, animo and corpore, [or in
[008] either, but] one cannot acquire possession except both animo and corpore, neither
[009] corpore alone nor animo alone.¹⁸ And just as it cannot be acquired except animo
[010] and corpore, so it cannot be lost unless both [are lost],¹⁹ and, since it is acquired
[011] by both, though it is lost corpore it may be retained by intention alone. Some
[012] possession is rightful, some wrongful, as may be seen below in the tractate on the
[013] assise of novel disseisin.²⁰ Some genuine, some imaginary, colored or fictitious:
[014] imaginary, as where one conducts himself as if he possessed when another [in fact]
[015] possesses. Some possession is bare, some clothed by a vestment: bare, as where
[016] one has no right in a thing, not the slightest spark of right, only a bare physical
[017] entry; clothed, [as where one's possession is clothed] by right, title or time. Some
[018] possession is [already] acquired, some to be acquired; ²¹some already attained,
[019] some to be attained,²² some valid and strong, some bare and weak. Some possession
[020] is one's own, some that of another. Of the possession of others, some is near and
[021] some remote. Some possession is ancient, some recent and new. There is possession
[022] which has nothing of right but something of possession, as where one is in possession
[023] by intrusion.²³ There is another kind that has something of possession but nothing
[024] of right, as where one is in possession as guardian or creditor and the like. There is
[025] another that has a good deal of possession [but] little of right, as the possession of
[026] an ancestor, [recovered] in a possessory action, where another has the mere
[027] right and the ancestor the fee and free tenement. And another that has a great
[028] deal of possession and something of right, where [the possessory action] is changed
[029] [into a] proprietary one, as where one holds for a term of life or years.²⁴ There is
[030] also possession that has much of possession and much of right, as where in some
[031] thing one has the mere right and the

Notes

17. Infra 131

18. ‘neque corpore per se neque animo per se,’ from lines 9-10, as infra 130, 140, 154; Azo, Summa Cod. 7.32, no. 3: ‘aliter non acquiritur possessio ... ut D. 41.2.3.1 et D. 41.2.8.’

19. D. 41.2.8

20. Infra iii, 21

21-22. Reading: ‘quaedam adepta et quaedam adipiscenda, quaedam bona et firma, quaedam nuda et infirma’

23. Infra iii, 13

24. Left incomplete