Dominium

Dominium, a Roman law term, which has been received into the technical language of most of the legal systems of Europe. It may be described as a full legal right in and to an object—as the right from which alone legal possession could flow, but which actual possession alone could never confer, unless such possession had endured for the period of legal prescription. The right to possess is thus distinguished from the right arising from possession, which is the usufruct.