This is the first attempt to look in a coherent fashion at the topic of possession in Law from a comparative and historical perspective. This volume in the Edinburgh Studies in Law series is an international collection of essays on the consequences of possession in law, examined from a comparative and historical perspective. It attempts to answer a number of questions. Why protect possession? How is possession understood in civilian legal systems and in the common law? What are the remedies provided by the law for the sheer fact of possession? Although possession is a topic which has been researched for centuries, there is a surprising dearth of comparative materials and also very little available in English about the law of non-Anglophone jurisdictions. Leaving aside the question on what possession is, a question that has caused a considerable amount of ink to be spilled for centuries, this analysis concerns itself with the law's response to 'possession'. It comprises contributions from some very distinguished scholars from the civilian tradition (Germany, Italy) as well as the common law (England) and mixed legal systems (Quebec, Scotland, South Africa).
It features an international collection of contributors. Mixed jurisdictions provide the key case studies. It has the common law and civil law combined. It is the first synthesis of theory on the subject.