Domain
A Dictionary of Law · Henry Campbell Black · 1891
A Dictionary of Law
The complete and absolute ownership of land; a paramount and individual right of property in land. Also the real estate so owned. The inherent sovereign power claimed by the legislature of a state, of controlling private property for public uses, is termed the “right of eminent domain.”
2 Kent, Comm. 339.
The public lands of a state are frequently termed the “public domain,” or “domain of the state.”
1 Kent, Comm. 166,259; 2 Kent, Comm. 339, note.
A distinction has been made between “property” and “domain.” ‘The former is said to be that quality which is conceived to be in the thing itself, considered as belonging to such or such person, exclusively ofall others. By the latter is understood that right which the owner bas of disposing of the thing. Hence “domain” and “property” are said to be correlative terms. The one is the active right to dispose of; the other a passive quality which follows the thing and places it at the disposition of the owner.
3 Toullier, no. 83.