Possession

(-sĕsh'un, or -zĕsh'un), n. [Lat. possessio, Fr. possession, Pr. possessio, Sp. posesion, It. possessione. See Possess.]

1. The act of possessing.
2. (Law.) The having, holding, or detention of property in one's power or command; actual seizin or occupancy; ownership, whether rightful or wrongful.

⚒ Possession may be either actual or constructive: actual, when a party has the immediate occupancy; constructive, when he has only the right to immediate occupancy. 3. The thing possessed; that which any one owns or controls; as, foreign possessions. The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. Obad. 17.

4. The state of being possessed, as by an evil spirit; madness; lunacy; as, demoniacal possession.
5. (International Law.) A country that is held by no other title than mere conquest. Bouvier.

To give possession, to put in another's power or occupancy. — To take possession, to enter on, or to bring within one's power or occupancy. — Writ of possession (Law.), a precept directing a sheriff to put a person in peaceable possession of property recovered in ejectment or writ of entry. Blackstone.