Occtjpy

2 To bold in possession; to hold or keep for use; as, to occupy an apartment.' Implies actual' use, possession or cultivation by a particular person: as, in a devise of land "occupied" by the testator.* " Occupy " and its inflections may well enough be used in the sense of possess; "occupancy" and "occupant" for assuming property which has no owner; " occupation" and " occupier " for the more general idea of possession."* Occupied; unoccupied. As used in policies of insurance, are always construed with reference to the character of the building, the purposes for which it is designed and the uses contemplated by the parties as expressed in the contract. The occupancy of a dwelling, and of a bam or a mill,, is in each case essentially different in its scope and character. " Occupied " always implies a substantial and practical use of the building for the purposes for which- it is intended, and as contemplated by the terms of the policy. A dwelling-house is occupied when human beings habitually reside in it, and unoccupied when no one lives or dwells in it.* Occupation of a dwelling-house, within the meaning of a policy of insurance, requires that there be in the house the presence of human beings as at their customary place of abode, not absolutely and uninterruptedly continuous, but the house must be the place of usual return and habitual stoppage.' See Vacant. Within the meaning of a tax law, the owner of land may be in occupation of it by his tenant; so that " unoccupied " will mean untenanted.' See Use, 2. Occupancy. Possession; actual control; occupation,!' q. v. ■People V. General Sessions, 13 Hun, 400 (1878); Regina V. Garrett, 1 Dears. C. C. 242 (1853), Parke, B. ^ L. occupare, to lay hold of. "Missionary Society v. Dalles, 107 U. S. 843(1882): Webster's Diet. « Jackson v. Sill, 11 Johns. *214 (1814), Thompson, C. J.; Inhabitants of Phillipsburgh v. Bruch, 37 N. J. E. 486-60 ( 1H83), cases. ' [Abbott's Law Diet. • Sonneborn v. Manufacturers' Ins. Co., 44 N. J. L. 223 (1882), Green, J. See also 112 Mass. 422; 136 id. 491. ' Herrman v. Adriatic Fire Ins. Co., 83 N. Y. 169 (1881), Folger, C. J.; Barry v. Prescott Ins. Co., 35 Hun, 603 (1885). 8 State t'. Reinhardt, 31 N. J. L. 218 (1865); Imperial Fire Ins. Co. i>. Kiernan, 83 Ky. 473 (18S5); Stensgaard V. National Fire Ins. Co., 36 Minn. 181 (1886). Title by occupancy is the taking possession of those things -which before belonged to nobody, i The foundation of property, of hol4.™g those things in severalty whicli by the law of nature, unqualified by that of society, were common to all mankind.^ Thus, at common law, one may take to his own use goods of an alien enemy; movables returned into the commop stock of things by abandonment; the benefits of the elements — light, air, water; and wild animals. Other examples of title acquired by first occupancy are: emblements; additions to property by accession, or by wrongful confusion of goods; an author's right in his literary composition; the right to the exclusive use of a trade-mark, or of a firm name.^ Lest this property should determine by the owner's dereliction, or death, whereby the thing would again become common, society has established contracts, conveyances, wills, and beirships, by which to continue the property of the first occupant.' See Discovert, 1. Occupant; occupier. The " first occupant " is he who first declared his intention to appropriate a thing to his own use, and actually took it into possession. * An " occupant " has the actual use or possession of a thing.* An "occupier" is one in the use and enjoyment of a thing.P May imply that the person is in the actual bona fide. possession of land as a resident.^ See Abandon, 1; Find, 1. Occupation. 1. Actual possession of real property. ^ See Use, 3. 3. Employment at a particular business; engagement; vocation; calling; trade.' See Employment; Pkofession; Trade; Tax, 3.