4 The interdicts 'Uti possidetis' and 'Utrubi' are interdicts for
retaining possession, and are employed when two parties claim ownership
in anything, in order to determine which shall be defendant and which
plaintiff; for no real action can be commenced until it is ascertained
which of the parties is in possession, because law and reason both
require that one of them shall be in possession and shall be sued by
the other. As the role of defendant in a real action is far more
advantageous than that of plaintiff, there is almost invariably a keen
dispute as to which party is to have possession pending litigation: the
advantage consisting in this, that, even if the person in possession has
no title as owner, the possession remains to him unless and until the
plaintiff can prove his own ownership: so that where the rights of the
parties are not clear, judgement usually goes against the plaintiff.
Where the dispute relates to the possession of land or buildings,
the interdict called 'Uti possidetis' is employed; where to movable
property, that called 'Utrubi.' Under the older law their effects were
very different. In 'Uti possidetis' the party in possession at the
issue of the interdict was the winner, provided he had not obtained
that possession from his adversary by force, or clandestinely, or by
permission; whether he had obtained it from some one else in any of
these modes was immaterial. In 'Utrubi' the winner was the party who
had been in possession the greater portion of the year next immediately
preceding, provided that possession had not been obtained by force, or
clandestinely, or by permission, from his adversary. At the present
day, however, the practice is different, for as regards the right to
immediate possession the two interdicts are now on the same footing;
the rule being, that whether the property in question be movable or
immovable, the possession is adjudged to the party who has it at the
commencement of the action, provided he had not obtained it by force, or
clandestinely, or by permission, from his adversary.
5 A man's possession includes, besides his own personal possession, the
possession of any one who holds in his name, though not subject to his
power; for instance, his tenant. So also a depositary or borrower for
use may possess for him, as is expressed by the saying that we retain
possession by any one who holds in our name. Moreover, mere intention
suffices for the retention of possession; so that although a man is not
in actual possession either himself or through another, yet if it was
not with the intention of abandoning the thing that he left it, but with
that of subsequently returning to it, he is deemed not to have parted
with the possession. Through what persons we can obtain possession has
been explained in the second Book; and it is agreed on all hands that
for obtaining possession intention alone does not suffice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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