freehold of the lands, which the tenant before enjoyed. Or it may happen, that after the death of the anceſtor and before the entry of the heir, or after the death of a particular tenant and before the entry of him in remainder or reverſion, a ſtranger may contrive to get poſſeſſion of the vacant land, and hold out him that had a right to enter. In all which caſes, and many others that might be here ſuggeſted, the wrongdoer has only a mere naked poſſeſſion, which the rightful owner may put an end to, by a variety of legal remedies, as will more fully appear in the third book of theſe commentaries. But in the mean time, till ſome act be done by the rightful owner to deveſt this poſſeſſion and aſſert his title, ſuch actual poſſeſſion is, prima facie, evidence of a legal title in the poſſeſſor; 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 ſuch actual poſſeſſion no title can be completely good.
II. The next ſtep to a good and perfect title is the right of poſſeſſion, which may reſide in one man, while the actual poſſeſſion is either in himſelf or in another. For if a man be diſſeiſed, or otherwiſe kept out of poſſeſſion, by any of the means before-mentioned, though the actual poſſeſſion be loſt, yet he has ſtill remaining in him the right of poſſeſſion; and may exert it whenever he thinks proper, by entering upon the diſſeiſor, and turning him out of that occupancy which he has ſo illegally gained. But the right of poſſeſſion is of two ſorts: an apparent right of poſſeſſion, which may be defeated by proving a better; and an actual right of poſſeſſion, which will ſtand the teſt againſt all opponents. Thus if the diſſeiſor, or other wrongdoer, dies poſſeſſed of the land whereof he ſo became ſeiſed by his own unlawful act, and the ſame deſcends to his heir; now, by the common law, the heir hath obtained an apparent right, though the actual right of poſſeſſion reſides in the perſon diſſeiſed; and it ſhall not be lawful for the perſon diſſeiſed to deveſt this apparent right by mere entry or other act of his own, but only by an action at law[1]. For, until
- ↑ Litt. §. 385.
