2. Two or more persons may possess the same thing in common, just as they may own it in common. This is called compossessio by the civilians.
3. Corporeal and incorporeal possession may coexist in respect of the same material object, just as corporeal and incorporeal ownership may. Thus A. may possess the land, while B. possesses a right of way over it. For it is not necessary, as we have already seen, that A.’s claim of exclusive use should be absolute; it is sufficient that it is general.
§ 103. The Acquisition of Possession.
Possession is acquired whenever the two elements of corpus and animus come into coexistence, and it is lost so soon as either of them disappears. The modes of acquisition are two in number, namely Taking and Delivery. Taking is the acquisition of possession without the consent of the previous possessor. The thing taken may or may not have been already in the possession of some one else, and in either case the taking of it may be either rightful or wrongful. Delivery, on the other hand, is the acquisition of possession with the consent and co-operation of the previous possessor. It is of two kinds, distinguished by English lawyers as actual and constructive.[[243]] Actual delivery is the transfer of immediate possession; it is such a physical dealing with the thing as transfers it from the hands of one person to those of another. It is of two kinds, according as the mediate possession is or is not retained by the transferor. The delivery of a chattel by way of sale is an example of delivery without any reservation of mediate possession; the delivery of a chattel by way of loan or deposit is an instance of the reservation of mediate possession on the transfer of immediate.
Constructive delivery, on the other hand, is all which is not actual, and it is of three kinds. The first is that which the Roman lawyers termed traditio brevi manu, but which has no recognised name in the language of English law. It consists in the surrender of the mediate possession of a thing to him who is already in immediate possession of it. If, for example, I lend a book to some one, and afterwards, while he still retains it, I agree with him to sell it to him, or to make him a present of it, I can effectually deliver it to him in fulfilment of this sale or gift, by telling him that he may keep it. It is not necessary for him to go through the form of handing it back to me and receiving it a second time from my hands. For he has already the immediate possession of it, and all that is needed for delivery under the sale or gift is the destruction of the animus through which mediate possession is still retained by me.[[244]]
The second form of constructive delivery is that which the commentators on the civil law have termed constitutum possessorium (that is to say, an agreement touching possession). This is the converse of traditio brevi manu. It is the transfer of mediate possession, while the immediate possession remains in the transferor. Any thing may be effectually delivered by means of an agreement that the possessor of it shall for the future hold it no longer on his own account but on account of some one else. No physical dealing with the thing is requisite, because by the mere agreement mediate possession is acquired by the transferee, through the immediate possession retained by the transferor and held on the other’s behalf. Therefore, if I buy goods from a warehouseman, they are delivered to me so soon as he has agreed with me that he will hold them as warehouseman on my account. The position is then exactly the same as if I had first taken actual delivery of them, and then brought them back to the warehouse, and deposited them there for safe custody.[[245]]
The third form of constructive delivery is that which is known to English lawyers as attornment.[[246]] This is the transfer of mediate possession, while the immediate possession remains outstanding in some third person. The mediate possessor of a thing may deliver it by procuring the immediate possessor to agree with the transferee to hold it for the future on his account, instead of on account of the transferor. Thus if I have goods in the warehouse of A., and sell them to B., I have effectually delivered them to B., so soon as A. has agreed with B. to hold them for him, and no longer for me. Neither in this nor in any other case of constructive delivery is any physical dealing with the thing required, the change in the animus of the persons concerned being adequate in itself.[[247]]
§ 104. Possession not essentially the Physical Power of Exclusion.
According to a widely accepted theory the essence of corporeal possession is to be found in the physical power of exclusion. The corpus possessionis, it is said, is of two kinds, according as it relates to the commencement or to the continuance of possession. The corpus required at the commencement is the present or actual physical power of using the thing oneself and of excluding all other persons from the use of it. The corpus required for the retention of a possession once acquired may, on the other hand, consist merely in the ability to reproduce this power at will. Thus I acquire possession of a horse if I take him by the bridle, or ride upon him, or otherwise have him in my immediate personal presence, so that I can prevent all other persons from interfering with him. But no such immediate physical relation is necessary to retain the possession so acquired. I can put the horse in my stable, or let him run in a field. So long as I can go to him when I wish, and reproduce at will the original relation of physical power, my possession has not ceased. To this view of the matter, however, the following objections may be made.[[248]]
1. Even at the commencement a possessor need have no physical power of excluding other persons. What physical power of preventing trespass does a man acquire by making an entry upon an estate which may be some square miles in extent? Is it not clear that he may have full possession of land that is absolutely unfenced and unprotected, lying open to every trespasser? There is nothing to prevent even a child from acquiring effective possession as against strong men, nor is possession impossible on the part of him who lies in his bed at the point of death. If I stretch a net in the sea, do I not acquire the possession of the fish caught in it, so soon as they are caught? Yet every other fisherman that passes by has more power of excluding me than I have of excluding him. So if I set traps in the forest, I possess the animals which I catch in them, though there is neither physical presence nor physical power. If in my absence a vendor deposits a load of stone or timber on my land, do I not forthwith acquire possession of it? Yet I have no more physical power over it than any one else has. I may be a hundred miles from my farm, without having left any one in charge of it; but I acquire possession of the increase of my sheep and cattle.