Possessio fratris

The possession or seisin of a brother; that is, such possession of an estate by a brother as would entitle his sister of the whole blood to succeed him as heir, to the exclusion of a half-brother. Hence, derivatively, that doctrine of the older English law of descent which shut out the halfblood from the succession to estates; a doctrine which was abolished by the descent act, 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 106 See 1 Steph. Comm. 385; Broom, Max. 532.

Defined under Possessio in Black's Law Dictionary.

_ the brother’s possession. This is a By the common law, the ancestor from whom the inheritance was taken by descent, must have had actual seisin of the lands, either by his own entry, or by the possession of his own, or his ancestor’s lessee for years, or by being in the receipt of rent from the lessce of the freehold. But there are qualifications as to this rule, one of which arises from the doctrine of possessio fratris. The possession of a tenant for years, guardian or brother, is equivalent to that of the party himself, and is termed in law possessio fratris. Litt. sect. 8; Co. Litt. 15a; 3 Wils. 516; 7T. R. 386; 2 Hill. Ab. 286. In Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, and probably in other states, the real and personal estates of intestates are distributed among the heirs, without any reference or regard to the actual seisin of the ancestor. Reeve on Des. 377 to 379; 4 Mason’s R. 467; 3 Day’s R. 166; 2 Pet. R. 59. In Maryland, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Vermont, the doctrine of possessio fratris, it seems, still exists. 2 Peters’s Rep. 625; Reeve on Desc. 377; 4 Kent, Com. 384, 5.