Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 121

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Volume 2, Page 121

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[001] at the proper time, the donor dies or loses his mind without making a charter and
[002] the donee subsequently secures a charter of gift; the gift will be good [and], though
[003] the seal is genuine, the charter void. On this matter more is said below.¹

That a gift is invalid unless livery follows. Of the kinds of possession and how the possession of things is acquired.

[005] As we have said above, some gifts are complete, others incomplete. Since to give is
[006] to make the thing the property of the donee,² a gift will never be complete until
[007] the donee has full possession or seisin, [by himself alone, with no other who claims
[008] a right in the thing,] that is, until the thing has been delivered to him, for by
[009] liveries and usucapions possessions and the dominion of things are transferred,³ for
[010] it does not suffice if the right is granted to another unless the donee obtains seisin.
[011] But since possession or seisin is of many kinds, we must first see what possession is
[012] and into what divisions it falls. [Also how it is acquired, by livery or in some other
[013] way,⁴ and by what persons;⁵ and how, when acquired, it is retained;⁶ and how one
[014] must use it,⁷ and if [a gift] is made to several, who shall be preferred,⁸ [then] how,
[015] once acquired, it may be lost,⁹ and when lost, how recovered.]

What possession is.

[017] What is possession? It is clear that ¹⁰possession is the detention corpore and animo
[018] of a corporeal thing, with the concurrent support of right. Of a ‘corporeal’ thing,
[019] it is said, because incorporeal things cannot be possessed or be the subjects of
[020] usucapion or be transferred apart from some corporeal thing, since they do not
[021] admit of livery by themselves. They therefore are said to be quasi-possessed [and]
[022] can be transferred or quasi-transferred by acquiescence and use.¹¹ Possession is also
[023] said to be ‘the detention’ of a thing, because it is held naturally by him who has
[024] it, that is, physically,¹² With respect to what is said, ‘corpore and animo with the
[025] concurrent support of right,’¹³ more will be said below.¹⁴ ¹⁵When one is in possession
[026] and we dispute it against him, the dispute involves either that there be restored
[027] to us what is ours but we do not possess, [as where we have been wrongfully ejected
[028] from our own possession, or another's, as that of our ancestors,] or that (by
[029] interdict) we be allowed

Notes

1. Supra 119, n. 7; infra iv, 235-43

2. Supra 49

3. C. 2.3.20

4. Infra 124-30, 156-8

5. Infra 135-7

6. Infra 130-34

7. Infra 149-54

8. Infra 137-40

9. Infra 140, 154-6

10-12. Azo, Summa Cod. 7.32, nos. 1-2

11. Infra 124, 159, 167, iii, 168, 177

13. Azo, Summa Cod. 7.32, no. 3. Br. has altered Azo's ‘dixi’ to ‘dicitur’ in line 23: Woodbine in Yale L. Jour. xxxi, 840 n.

14. Infra 137

15-16. D. 43.17.1.4: ‘omnis de possessione controversia aut eo pertinet ut quod non possidemus nobis restituatur aut ad hoc, ut retinere nobis liceat quod possidemus. Restitutae possessionis ordo aut interdicto expeditur aut per actionem, retinendae itaque possessionis duplex via est, aut exceptio aut interdictum. Exceptio datur ex multis causis ...’; infra 294