Page:Black's Law Dictionary (Second Edition).djvu/923

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PORTORIA sometimes in inland towns also. Cowell; Blouut.

PORTORIA. In the clw'l law. Duties paid in ports on merchandise. Taxes levied in old times at city gates. Tolls for passing over bridges.

PORTSALE. In old English Isw. An auction: I-l public sale of goods to the highest hidder; also a sale of fish as soon as it is hruught into the haven. Cowell.

PORTSOKA, or PORTSOKEN. The suburbs of a city, or any place within its ju- risdiction. Somner; Cowell.

Portal est locus in quo exportantur et importnntur merees. 2 Inst. 148. A port is a place where goods are exported or imported.

POSITIVE. Laid down, enacted, or prescribed mpless or afl‘irnlati\'e. Direct, ab- soiule, explicit.

As to positive "Condition," "Evidence," "Fraud," "Proof," and "Servitnde," see those iiiles.

POSITIVE LAW. Law actually and speclfitally enacted or adopted by proper authority for the government or an o1‘.-Ionized jurol soclelw.

"A ‘law,’ in the sense in which that term is employed in jurisprudence is enforced by a soil-reign political authority It is thus dislIlli;lil‘~'i|eti not only flom all rules which. like the pnnuiples of morality and the so-called laws of honor and of fashion are enforced by an indctrrulinate authority, but also from all rules onfoncd by a ilelciminnte authority nbirh is euher, on the one hand. superhuman, or, on the other hand. politically suhordinale. In order in emphasize the fact that ‘laws,’ in the strict 501151‘ of the term, are thus authoritatively im- noswl, they are described as positive laws." llull. Jur. 37.

POSTIVI JURIS. Int. Of positive law. "1‘h:lt was a rule jmsitir-i j'u.ra's,' I do not mean to say an unjust one." Lord Ellen- Imroueh. 12 East. 639.

Positn nno oppositor-um, negntur al- ter-um. One of two opposite positions Iieing aiijnuerl, the other is denied. 3 Rollo. 422.

P0551]. Lot. A possibility. A thing is said to be in posse \\ hen it may possibly be; in es.-zc when it actually is.

POSSE COMITATUS. hat. The power or force of the county. The entire population of a county above the age of fifteen, which a sheriff may summon to his assistance in certain cases; as to aid him in keeping the peace. in pursuing and arresting: felons. etc. 1 Bl. Comm. 343. See Com. v. Martin, 7 Pa. Dist. R. 224.

to have to have

POSSESS. To occupy in person; in oae‘s actual and physical control;

915

POSSESSIO FRATRIS DE FEODO

the exclusive detention and control of; also to own or be entitled to. See Fuller v. Fuller, 84 Me. 475, 2-1 Atl. 9-16; Brantly v. Ree, 58 N. C. 337.

POSSESSED. This word is applied to the right and enjoyment of a tcrmol‘, or a person having :1 term, who is still to be possessed, anti not selsed. Bac. Tr. 335; Poph. 16: Dyer, 369.

POSSESSIO. Lat. In the civil law. That condition of fact unnier which one can exercise his power over a corporeal thing at his pleasure to the exclusion of all others. This condition of fact is called "detention." and it forms the substance of possession in all its varieties. Machcld Rom. Law, 5 238.

"Possession," in the sense of "detention." is the actual exercise of such a power as the caner has a right to exercise. The term "posscssio" occurs in the Roman jurists in various senses. '.l‘here is posscssio simply, and posscssio rivilia, and pnsscssio norm-nlis. I'osscsmo denoted. originally. bare detention. But this detention, under certain conditions, becomes a legal state. inasmuch as it loads to ownership. through usmupia. Accordingly, the word "possP.8sm." which required no qualification so long as there was no other notion attached to pus.-zcsxio, re- quires such qualification nht-n detention becomes a legal state. This dctcntion, then, when it has the conditions necessary to usumpw. is called "p0x.s'cssio ci-rl "' and all other pumpssin as opposed to cioi s is naturalis. Sandars. Just. Inst. 274. Wharton.


In old English law. Possession; seisln. The detention of a corporeal thing by means of a physical act and mental intent. aided by some support of right. Brnct. fol. 381).

—-Peilis ossesslo. A foothold: an_actunl possession 0 real property. implying either actual occupancy or enclosure and use. Sop Lon ronce v. Fulton. 19 Cal. 890; Porter v. Ixeunedv. I Mciliul. (S. C) 357. Possessio Iyona fide. Pnss4=<s'ioi:i in good faith. Pnsscssia main /ivlr. possession in bad faith. A possessor I/our! fivlc is one who believes that no other person has a better right to the possession than him.-:4-lf. A possessor muln fide is one who lmows that he is not entitled to the possession. ‘ilzickelfl. Rum. Law. § 21-'%.—Pnssessio bonorllm. in the civil hm. The possession of gounls. More commonly termed "bomlrum 1mss(=ssio." (q. u.) —Possessio eivilis. In Roman law. A lessl possession, i. 0., an possessing accompanied vuith the intention to be or to thereby become on ner: and, as so undvrstnorl. it was disiingiiislieil from "1-asscluzio nnfurala's," otherwise cailod "muia dz'ici'lii0," which was I1 pa. ' such intention. Pn.s-srssio cl of usur‘u1u'a or of lmu/i tcmporis pns.rcssi'o, and was usually (but not I]('lPNK"il'ii_V) adieu-se posses on. Broun.-1-'ossessia fr-atris. The on or seisin of 21 brother: that is. such po. .sion of nu cstnte by a brother as would enti le his sister of the whole hlood to succeed him as heir. to the exclusion of a half-|Irothr~r. I-ionce. dnrivatively. that doctrine of the oldnr English law of descent which shut out the half- blood from the succe ion to estates: a doctrine vlhich was abolished by the descent act, 3 4 \"Vm. IV. c. 1 ‘ See 1 Staph. Comm. P-room. 1\Iax. 5 —Possessio long-l temporis. See Ilsuclxr-1o.—Possessia na.tuz-alis. See Possnssio Civlus.


Pussessin fratr-is de fendo simpliei fncit sorurem esse hieredem. The brother's pos-