adverse possession


nounLaw.
  1. the open and exclusive occupation and use of someone else's real property without permission of the owner continuously for a period of years prescribed by law, thereafter giving title to the occupier-user.

Words Nearby adverse possession

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use adverse possession in a sentence

  • He found him in adverse possession of his property and with a gun raised ready to shoot.

    Silver and Gold | Dane Coolidge
  • The civil statutes also give moral validity to the title of prescription, or adverse possession.

    Distributive Justice | John A. (John Augustine) Ryan
  • It is not wonderful that property began in adverse possession.

    Ancient Law | Sir Henry James Sumner Maine
  • The doctrine of "adverse possession" is founded on the anxiety of our law to secure quietude of title.

  • A far longer period than the present one was requisite to constitute "adverse possession" at the time mentioned in the text.

British Dictionary definitions for adverse possession

adverse possession

noun
  1. property law the occupation or possession of land by a person not legally entitled to it. If continued unopposed for a period specifed by law, such occupation extinguishes the title of the rightful owner

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012