Simple English definitions for legal terms
Read a random definition: civilian
Natural possession is the fact of having or holding property in one's power and exercising dominion over it. It is the right to control something exclusively and the continuing exercise of a claim to the exclusive use of a material object. For example, if you own a car and keep it in your garage, you have natural possession of the car.
In civil law, natural possession is the detention or use of a physical thing with the intent to hold it as one's own. It may give rise to a claim of unlawful possession or a claim of ownership by acquisitive prescription. For example, if you occupy a building or cultivate farmland without title, you may have natural possession of the property.
Another example of natural possession is when a person has physical occupancy or control over property, which is called actual possession. This can be contrasted with constructive possession, which is control or dominion over a property without actual possession or custody of it.