Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/208

 196 freehold of the lands, which the tenant before enjoyed. Or it may happen, that after the death of the ancetor and before the entry of the heir, or after the death of a particular tenant and before the entry of him in remainder or reverion, a tranger may contrive to get poeion of the vacant land, and hold out him that had a right to enter. In all which caes, and many others that might be here uggeted, the wrongdoer has only a mere naked poeion, which the rightful owner may put an end to, by a variety of legal remedies, as will more fully appear in the third book of thee commentaries. But in the mean time, till ome act be done by the rightful owner to devet this poeion and aert his title, uch actual poeion is, prima facie, evidence of a legal title in the poeor; and it may, by length of time, and negligence of him who hath the right, by degrees ripen into a perfect and indefeaible title. And, at all events, without uch actual poeion no title can be completely good.

II. next tep to a good and perfect title is the right of poeion, which may reide in one man, while the actual poeion is either in himelf or in another. For if a man be dieied, or otherwie kept out of poeion, by any of the means before-mentioned, though the actual poeion be lot, yet he has till remaining in him the right of poeion; and may exert it whenever he thinks proper, by entering upon the dieior, and turning him out of that occupancy which he has o illegally gained. But the right of poeion is of two orts: an apparent right of poeion, which may be defeated by proving a better; and an actual right of poeion, which will tand the tet againt all opponents. Thus if the dieior, or other wrongdoer, dies poeed of the land whereof he o became eied by his own unlawful act, and the ame decends to his heir; now, by the common law, the heir hath obtained an apparent right, though the actual right of poeion reides in the peron dieied; and it hall not be lawful for the peron dieied to devet this apparent right by mere entry or other act of his own, but only by an action at law. For, until Rh