Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
The paper analyses the concept of ‘possession’ in land law from a practical, rather than a theoretical perspective. It postulates that possession can be ‘definitional’ or ‘remedial’. When it is definitional it necessarily implies a property right; when it is remedial, it may not. The failure to analyse possession in terms of case law – especially the case law of England and Wales – is the cause of both practical and conceptual problems.

Dixon, Martin John, Real Property, Licenses and the Slippery Idea of Possession (April 1, 2023), (2023) 139 Law Quarterly Review 552.