squatter's right

American  

noun

Law Informal.

1. a claim to real property, especially public land, that may be granted to a person who has openly possessed and continuously occupied it without legal authority for a prescribed period of years.

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Etymology

Origin of squatter's right

An Americanism dating back to 1855–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

squatter's right

They came day and night, and though my reason denied them entrance they held their own as by a kind of squatter's right.

From The Damned by Algernon Blackwood

We did not fail to examine our shoes before putting them on in the morning, lest the scorpions should have established a squatter's right therein.

From Due West or Round the World in Ten Months by Maturin Murray Ballou

Of course, The Laird hasn't any more title to the Sawdust Pile than you have—not as much, in fact, for I do believe you could make a squatter's right stick in any court.

From Kindred of the Dust by Peter B. (Peter Bernard) Kyne

"But your father has his squatter's right," put in the lawyer, feeling that he was giving the student less chance if he said this.

From Tess of the Storm Country by Grace Miller White

Up to that time no settler had more than a squatter's right.

From Dr. John McLoughlin, the Father of Oregon by Frederick Van Voorhies Holman