Note 252 — Chapter XIV · POSSESSION (Continued).

In saying that possession is the de facto counterpart of ownership, it is to be remembered that we use both terms in their widest sense, as including both the corporeal and incorporeal forms. If we confine our attention to corporeal ownership and possession, the correspondence between them is incomplete. Many claims constitute corporeal possession if exercised de facto, but incorporeal ownership if recognised de jure. Thus tenants, bailees, and pledgees have corporeal possession but incorporeal ownership. They possess the land or the chattel, but own merely an encumbrance over it. The ownership of a book means the ownership of the general or residuary right to it; but the possession of a book means merely the possession of an exclusive right to it for the time being. That is to say, the figurative usage of speech is not the same in possession as in ownership, therefore much corporeal possession is the counterpart of incorporeal ownership.