Possession is the relation which subsists between a person and a thing, when the person has control over the thing, and maintains his control with the intention of exercising rights over the thing. A man may be in possession of what is not his own; a thief enters into unlawful possession of another's goods; a farmer has lawful possession of his landlord's property. Again, a man may own a thing without possessing it, and the law prescribes the forms of action, &c. whereby an owner may recover possession of his property. In a reasonably well-governed community possession is evidence of right to possess; the person in possession is therefore protected against all the world, unless there is some other person who can show that he has a better title: this is what is meant by saying 'possession is nine points of the law.' We speak sometimes of an interest in possession, as distinguished from an interest in reversion or remainder: thus, the person who is entitled to receive the rent of land has an interest or estate in possession, though he does not possess the land. In common speech possession is frequently used as synonymous with property; but for legal purposes the two ideas must be carefully distinguished. See Hunter's Roman Law; and Pollock and Wright's Essay on Possession in the
Common Law (1888). There may be joint-ownership in either personal or real property, one of the characteristics of this kind of ownership being 'benefit of survivorship'—i.e. if one of the joint-owners dies his interest accrues to the other, and does not go to the deceased co-owner's heirs and representatives. In partnership, when one partner dies his share belongs to his own personal representatives.