Chapter the sixteenth.
Of TITLE by OCCUPANCY.
OCCUPANCY is the taking poſſeſſion of thoſe things, which before belonged to nobody. This, as we have ſeen[1], is the true ground and foundation of all property, or of holding thoſe things in ſeveralty, which by the law of nature, unqualified by that of ſociety, were common to all mankind. But, when once it was agreed that every thing capable of ownerſhip ſhould have an owner, natural reaſon ſuggeſted, that he who could firſt declare his intention of appropriating any thing to his own uſe, and, in conſequence of ſuch intention, actually took it into poſſeſſion, ſhould thereby gain the abſolute property of it; according to that rule of the law of nations, recognized by the laws of Rome[2], quod nullius eſt, id ratione naturali occupanti conceditur.
This right of occupancy, ſo far as it concerns real property, (for of perſonal chattels I am not in this place to ſpeak) hath been confined by the laws of England within a very narrow compaſs; and was extended only to a ſingle inſtance: namely, where a man was tenant pur auter vie, or had an eſtate granted to himſelf only (without mentioning his heirs) for the life of another man, and died during the life of ceſtuy que vie, or him by whoſe life it was holden: in this caſe he, that could firſt enter on the land, might lawfully retain the poſſeſſion ſo long as ceſtuy que vie lived, by right of occupancy[3].
