Legal Definitions - disseisin

Disseisin refers to the unlawful act of taking away someone's full ownership and control (known as freehold possession) of real estate, such as land or a building. It means an individual has been wrongfully dispossessed of their property, preventing them from exercising their rights as the true owner.

Here are some examples illustrating disseisin:

• Example 1: Unauthorized Construction and Occupation

  Imagine a property owner, Mr. Henderson, who owns a vacant lot next to his primary residence. A neighboring developer, Ms. Chen, mistakenly believes the lot is abandoned and begins construction of a small storage facility on Mr. Henderson's land, intending to use it for her adjacent business. She then fences off the area and prevents Mr. Henderson from accessing that portion of his property.

  This scenario illustrates disseisin because Ms. Chen has wrongfully taken physical possession and control of a part of Mr. Henderson's property, depriving him of his freehold ownership rights without any legal justification.

• Example 2: Fraudulent Transfer of Title

  Consider a situation where a scam artist creates fraudulent deeds and other legal documents to falsely transfer the ownership of a commercial office building from its rightful owner, a local charity, into the scam artist's name. The scam artist then proceeds to lease the building to a third-party tenant and collects rent, effectively preventing the charity from using, managing, or profiting from its own property.

  This is an act of disseisin because the scam artist has unlawfully deprived the charity of its freehold possession and the benefits of its property through deceptive means, even though the physical occupation is by a tenant rather than the scam artist directly.

• Example 3: Encroachment and Claim of Ownership

  A family owns a large, undeveloped parcel of land that they intend to develop in the future. A neighboring farmer, without permission, extends his agricultural operations onto a significant portion of this undeveloped land. He clears trees, plants crops, and erects a small shed, treating it as if it were his own property for several years, openly and continuously, thereby preventing the true owners from using that section of their land.

  The farmer's actions represent disseisin because he has wrongfully taken exclusive possession and control of a part of the family's freehold property, preventing them from exercising their ownership rights over that specific portion of their land.