Constructive possession
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 294 U.S. 189 - Penn General Casualty Co v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Schnader · 1935Most cited · 931 citing opinions
concurrent jurisdiction
when the two suits have substantially the same purpose and the jurisdiction of the courts is concurrent, that one whose jurisdiction and process are first invoked by the filing of the bill is treated as in constructive possession of the property and as authorized to proceed with the cause. Jurisdiction thus attaches upon the filing of the bill of complaint in court, at least where process subsequently issues in due course.
How the Supreme Court has restated “Constructive possession”
Each Supreme Court definition of “Constructive possession,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “Constructive possession”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “Constructive possession” — 955 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 3 definitions, chronological · 1829–2015
- ORIGINAL
Each of the parties then has held possession of distinct parts of the land in controversy. In this state of things, it is well settled, that the party having the better right, is in constructive possession of all the land not occupied in fact by his adversary. If then the plaintiffs in this case have the better title, that title is barred by the possession of the defendant, so far as that possession was actual, but not farther.
better title
a person, though lacking such physical custody, still has the power and intent to exercise control over the object.