Possessory Action
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
An action involving the claim to reduce the subject-matter to one's control and enjoyment; as distinguished from one involving the bare right only, called a petitory action (g. ».); a suit to obtain possession, not merely to determine title. In the common-law use of the term, it meant an action brought for the purpose of regaining possession of land whereof the demandant or his ancestors had been unjustly deprived by the tenant or possessor of the freehold, or those under whom he claimed. All that was alleged in this action was that the right of possession of the demandant was superior to that of the actual tenant; not necessarily that he had a right sumptive title, otherwise called an apparent right of possession, sufficient to protect him from expulsion by mere entry on the part of the adverse claimant. A possessory action was either a writ of entry or an assise. But these actions belonged to the class of real actions, and, having been for some time obsolete, were abolished in the year 1833 by Stat. 3 & 4 Wm. IV. ch.
27, § 36. 3 Bl. Com. 179-190; 3 Step Ti. Com. 361, 396.
In the admiralty and civil-law systems and in Louisiana, the terms possessory and petitory actions are still in use.