Definition of a Title, Inft. 345 b. 2 Com. c. 13. Poffeffion. neceffary to confider the title to real property, with the manner in which it may be acquired or lost. § 2. A title is thus defined by Lord Coke, Titulus eft jufta caufa poffidendi id quod noftrum eft. Or it is the means whereby the owner of lands hath the juft poffeffion of his property. But Sir William Blackstone obferves, there are several stages or degrees requifite to form a complete title to lands and tenements. § 3. The first degree of title is the bare poffeffion, or actual occupation of the eftate, without any apparent right, or any pretence of right, to hold and continue fuch poffeffion. This may happen where one man diffeises another; or where, after the death of the Tit. 1. f. 42. ancestor, and before the entry of the heir, a stranger abates, and holds out the heir. In thefe cafes the diffeifor or abator has only a mere naked poffeffion, which the rightful owner may put an end to, by an 3 Comm. 174. entry on the land; but in the mean time, till some act be done by the rightful owner to devest this poffeffion, and affert his title, fuch actual poffeffion is prima facie evidence of the legal title in the poffeffor; and it may by length of time, and negligence of him who hath the right, by degrees ripen into a perfect and indefeasible title; and at all events without fuch actual poffeffion, no title can be completely good, Right of Poffeffion. § 4. The next step to a good and perfect title is the right of poffeffion, which may refide in one man, while the actual poffeffion is in another. Thus in the cafe of a diffeifin or abatement, the right of poffeffion is is in the diffeifee or heir, who may exert it whenever he thinks proper by an entry. And the actual poffeffion is in the diffeifor or abator. § 5. The right of poffeffion is of two forts:-An apparent right of poffeffion, which may be defeated by proving a better; and an actual right of poffeffion, which will stand the teft against all opponents. 66 66 § 6. Thus Lord Chief Baron Gilbert fays-" When Ten. 21. any man is diffeised, the diffeifor has only the naked poffeffion, because the diffeifee may enter and evict "him; but against all other perfons the diffeifor has a ❝right, and in this refpect only can be faid to have "the right of poffeffion; for in respect to the diffeifee "he has no right at all. But when a defcent is caft, "the heir of the diffeifor has jus poffeffionis, because "the diffeisee cannot enter upon his poffeffion and “ evict him, but is put to his real action because the "freehold is caft upon the heir." Lit. f. 385. I Salk. 685. Vide Tit. 31. c. 2. § 7. Where the perfon who has the actual right of 2 Comm. 197. poffeffion puts in his claim, and brings his action. within a reasonable time, and can prove by what unlawful means the ancestor became feifed, he will then by fentence of law recover that poffeffion to which he hath such actual right. Yet if he omits to bring this his poffeffory action within a competent time, his adversary may imperceptibly gain an actual right of poffeffion. § 8. When this happens the party kept out of pof- Right of Property. feffion has nothing left in him but the mere right of VOL. III. Bb property, Difcontinu ance of an Eftate Tail. Tit. 2. c. 2. §. 14. property, or jus proprietatis, without either poffeffion or even the right of poffeffion; and his eftate is faid to be devested and turned to a right. It is devested because the right owner is turned out of * poffeffion; and it is turned to a right, because the right of pos feffion, and confequently the right of entry, is loft, and nothing is left but the jus merum, or mere right of property, which cannot be regained by a poffeffory, but only by a real action. § 9. It has been already ftated that a tenant in tail has not only the poffeffion, but alfo the right of poffeffion and inheritance in him, and therefore may alienate them by certain modes of conveyance, fo as ■ Inft. 327 b. to take away the entry of the issue in tail, and of the perfons in remainder or reverfion, and drive them to their action; which is called a difcontinuance: and therefore where a tenant in tail difcontinues the eftate tail, the person to whom the eftate tail is conveyed has the right of poffeffion, and the iffue in tail the right of property. It is however a rule of law that, in order to work a difcontinuance of an eftate tail, the perfon discontinuing must be actually feifed, by force of the intail. Gilb. Ten. 117. H. Black. Rep. 269. Poffeffion, and § 10. The union of the poffeffion, the right of poffeffion, and the right of property, conftitutes a complete title to lands, tenements, and hereditaments: for it is an ancient maxim of the law, that no title is * Devest (deveflire) is contrary to invest; for, as inveftire fignifies pofionem tradere, lo deveflire is poffeffionem auferre. Cowell, voce Deveft. completely completely good, unless the right of poffeffion be joined with the right of property, which right is thus denominated a double right, jus duplicatum or droit 1 Inft. 266 a. droit. And when to this double right the actual poffeffion is alfo united, where there is, according to the expreffion of Fleta, juris et feifina conjunctio, then and then only is the title completely legal. § 11. Lord Coke has ftated the whole of this doc. trine in the following words-It is to be known that Idem. there is, jus proprietatis, a right of ownership, jus poffeffionis, a right of feifin or poffeffion, and jus proprietatis et poffeffionis, a right both of property and pos feffion; and this is anciently called jus duplicatum or droit droit; for example, if a man be diffeifed of an acre of land, the diffeifee hath jus proprietatis, the diffeifor hath jus poffeffionis; and if the diffeifee releafe to the diffeisor, he hath jus proprietatis et poffeffionis. $ 12. The modes of acquiring a title to real property are two only,-by defcent and purchase. The 1 Inft. 18 b. former, where the title is vefted in a perfon by the 7.2. fingle operation of law; the latter, where the title is vested by the perfon's own act and agreement. Nature of Section 1. DESCENT or hereditary fucceffion is the title whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his eftate, as his heir at law. An heir therefore is he upon whom the law cafts the estate immediately on the death of the ancestor; and an estate so descending on the heir, is, in law, called the inheritance. § 2. Although the right of inheriting be known to the laws of every civilized country, and is founded on the best principles of reafon, yet it is not a right founded on natural law, or which can belong to any man in a state of nature; from which, it follows, that the numerous and arbitrary rules by which its course is either directed or interrupted, can never properly be esteemed or objected to, as violations of natural juftice. § 3. The |