Page:An introduction to Roman-Dutch law.djvu/151

 Rh THE MEANING OF OWNERSHIP 111 CHAPTER I THE MEANING OP OWNERSHIP DoMTNiON or Ownership is the relation protected by Dominion law in which a man stands to a material thing which he °hip7° is able to : (a) possess, (6) use and enjoy, (c) alienate.^ To constitute fuU ownership these rights must be exclusive. Where aU these rights are vested in one person to the exclusion of all others he is sole owner.^ Where all these rights are vested in two or more persons to the exclusion of all others they are co-owners. If one or more of these rights is vested in one person, the remainder in another or others, the ownership of each of such persons is qualified or restricted.' Thus, if you have by contract or otherwise Full acquired the right to : (a) possess, or (6) use, or (c) alienate, and ^"^^ ^ my property, my ownership is, so far, restricted ; and qualified ,. ■ t ^ J i • I ^ ■ -D ^ ownership. ownership is, so tar, vested not m me but m you. Isut since to speak of us both as owner would be misleading, unless the degree of ownership of each of us were on every occasion exactly specified, it is usual to speak of one of us only as owner of the thing, and as having a restricted ownership in it, while the other is spoken of as owner of the right, and as having a right of possession, right of use Jura in re and enjoyment, right of alienation, in or over the property of another. Hereupon the question arises which of two or more such competitors is to be regarded as owner, which not as owner. The answer depends not so much on the extent of the right or of the profit derived from it as on the consideration where the residue of rights remains after the deduction from full ownership of some specific right or rights of greater or less extent. Thus, if I give you a right of way over my field, clearly your right is Holland, Jurisprudence (11th ed.), p. 205 ; V. d. L. 1. 7. 1. The right to possess may be taken to include the jus vindicandi which Grotius (2. 3. 1) puts in the forefront in his definition of ownership: Eigendom is de toe-behoorte tot een zaeck, waerdoor iemand, schoon het bezit niet hebbende, 't zelve vermag rechtelick te bekomen. Gr. 2. 3. 10. = Gr. 2. 3. 11 ; 2. 33. 1. aUena.