Legal Definitions - revendication

Revendication refers to the legal process of formally demanding or recovering property or rights that are being wrongfully held by another party. It is a legal action taken by an owner to reclaim what is rightfully theirs, particularly in civil law systems where it applies to real rights in and possession of property.

• Imagine a situation where a rare, antique painting, stolen decades ago from a private art collector, is unexpectedly discovered hanging in a public gallery. The original collector, or their heirs, would initiate a revendication action to formally assert their ownership and legally demand the return of the painting, proving it was wrongfully taken and is rightfully theirs.

  This illustrates revendication because it involves a formal legal claim to recover a piece of property (the painting) that is being wrongfully held by another party (the gallery), despite its current location.

• Consider a scenario in a country that follows a civil law system, where a landowner discovers that a neighboring construction project has encroached upon their property, with a portion of a new building extending onto their land. The landowner would file a revendication lawsuit to formally assert their "real rights" (ownership and possession) over that specific piece of land and demand the removal of the encroaching structure, thereby recovering their rightful use and control of their property.

  Here, revendication is the legal action taken to reclaim real rights in and possession of property that is being wrongfully occupied and used by the neighbor.

• Suppose a specialized manufacturing company mistakenly ships a valuable piece of custom machinery to the wrong address. The unintended recipient, despite being informed of the error, refuses to return the equipment. The manufacturing company could pursue a revendication action to formally compel the recipient to surrender the machinery, as it is rightfully owned by the company and is being wrongfully withheld.

  This example demonstrates revendication as the formal legal demand for the recovery of physical property (the machinery) that is in the wrongful possession of an unintended party.