ACQUISITION AND Loss OF POSSESSION. In order to acquire legal possession a much more complete control must he established when the thing seized was not previously in any one's pos session (as in the capture of wild animals. birds, and fishes), or when the thing is taken without the consent of the prior possessor (disseisin), than is necessary in eases where possession is voluntarily transferred by a prior possessor. In case of delivery of possession it is only necessary that the new possessor gain the degree of control ordinarily held by an owner. Thus, while the theft of a key would not give the thief possession of anything but the key. the delivery of a key may suffice to transfer possession of a box or a room or a house. Such eases are sometimes de scribed as 'symbolic' deliveries, hut this term is inaccurate, since control actually passes.
At English law- a further distinction (foreign to the Roman law) is drawn between the person who has a right to possess and the person who has no such right. He who has a right to pos
sess becomes legal possessor, even without the consent of the prior possessor, as soon as a par tial control is established. This is one of the meanings attached to the English maxim that `possession follows title.' Another meaning is that, when it is uncertain who has the physical control, legal possession is with the person who has the better right to possess.
Legal possession is lost, at all legal systems, when physical control is lost. Control, however, as previously stated, does not mean complete con trol; and possession once established usually con tinues until the possibility of control is lost. Apart from the ease of animals naturcr, this usually occurs only when an adverse possession is established.