Legal Definitions - dispossession

DISPOSSESSION

Dispossession is when someone is deprived of their rightful possession of property or evicted from it. It is the wrongful taking or withholding of possession of land from the person who is legally entitled to it. This is also known as ouster.

• A landlord changing the locks on a tenant's apartment without notice and preventing them from entering is an example of dispossession.
• A family being forced off their land by a government without proper compensation is another example of dispossession.

These examples illustrate how dispossession can occur in different situations. In both cases, someone is being deprived of their rightful possession of property. In the first example, the tenant has a legal right to live in the apartment and the landlord is wrongfully preventing them from doing so. In the second example, the family has a legal right to their land and the government is wrongfully taking it away without proper compensation.