But
that presupposes ownership already existing, and the problem is
to discover what calls it into being.
One fact which has this effect is first possession. The captor of
wild animals, or the taker of fish from the ocean, has not merely
possession, but a title good against all the world. But the most
common mode of getting an original and independent title is by
certain proceedings, in court or out of it, adverse to all the
world. At one extreme of these is the proceeding in rem of the
admiralty, which conclusively disposes of the property in its
power, and, when it sells or condemns it, does not deal with this
or that man's title, but gives a new title paramount to all
previous interests, whatsoever they may be. The other and more
familiar case is prescription, where a public adverse holding for
a certain time has a similar effect. A title by prescription is
not a presumed conveyance from this or owner alone, it
extinguishes all previous and inconsistent claims. The two
coalesce in the ancient fine with proclamations where the
combined effect of the judgment and the lapse of a year and a day
was to bar claims. /1/
So rights analogous to those of ownership may be given by the
legislature to persons of whom some other set of facts is true.
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