When deciding whether it is in the public interest to prosecute an adult offender for an offence of simple possession of a small amount of cannabis for personal use, even if the person believes it is important to help alleviate their medical condition, prosecutors should consider the aggravating and mitigating factors of possession of a small amount of cannabis for personal use (see below). “Real possession is what most of us consider possession, that is, having physical custody or control of an object” (United States v. Nenadich, 689 F.Supp. 285 [N.Y.S. 1988]). Real possession, sometimes called possession, is used to describe immediate physical contact. For example, a person wearing a watch has actual possession of the watch. Similarly, if you have your wallet in your jacket pocket, you actually have possession of your wallet. However, this type of possession is necessarily very limited. Often, a set of facts clearly shows that a person is in possession of an object but has no physical contact with it. In order to deal appropriately with these situations, the courts have expanded the scope of possession beyond actual possession.
For example, a defendant found in possession of an illegal drug may escape conviction if the defence can prove that the defendant believed the drug was legal at the time. Possession requires both control and intent. It follows from the first moment that both conditions exist simultaneously. Usually, intent precedes control, such as when you see a coin on the bottom and stretch down to pick it up. Yet it is conceivable for a person to take control of something before intending to possess it. If he were unknowingly seated in the seat of a train and therefore in control of a $10 bill, he could take possession of it by taking cognizance of the ticket and intending to possess it. People may also intend to own things that have been left unknowingly in spaces they control. Discover our 4 practical tips on possession (physical versus legal) Cases of simple possession based on police surveillance in or near exchange offices should not normally be prosecuted. The need to prevent the spread of serious infections outweighs the normal requirement for prosecution. A suspect is an “occupier” if, regardless of his or her legal status, he or she has a level of control that would allow for the exclusion of others.
Legal possession is the acquisition of a significant degree of physical control over a physical thing, such as land or movable property, or the legal right to control an intangible asset such as a loan, with the clear intention of ownership. In terms of land and chattel, possession may have started as a physical fact, but possession today is often an abstraction. For example, an officer or employee may have custody of an object, but he or she has no possession; His employer does this, even if he is thousands of miles away from the object he owns. Moreover, except in the most abstract way, it is not possible to speak of possession of intangible assets. There are different forms of transfer of ownership. The object may be physically handed over (for example, handing over a newspaper purchased at the newsstand), but it is not always necessary for the party to literally seize the object for ownership to be considered transferred. It is sufficient that the object is in the de facto control area (for example, leave a letter in the mailbox). Sometimes it is enough for a symbol of the object to cede de facto control (for example, handing over the keys to a car or house). You can also choose to end possession by throwing a letter in the trash. Possession includes the ability to end possession. If the evidence supports a charge of supplying or possessing controlled drugs of any class with intent to deliver, this is preferable to a simple possession charge.
In criminal cases, the charge of possession may also include conscious possession. Conscious possession requires the person to be aware that the items are illegal and that they are possessed by the person who knows about them. and (2) “lawful possession”, which is a legally recognized and protected type of possession. The elements normally associated with lawful possession are intent to possess as well as some degree of occupation or control over the entire article, so it is appropriate and sufficient, for practical purposes, to exclude aliens from interference. In fact, also called possession, actual possession is as most of us would describe it: the physical custody or control of an object. For example, a person wearing a watch actually has possession of the watch around their wrist. As with a simple possession charge, a person who is in possession of one form of drug but believes it is another form of drug and intends to supply it to another should be charged with intentional possession of the drug. In law, possession is the control that a person intentionally exercises over a thing.
Like property, the possession of everything is usually regulated from one country to another by property law. In any case, to possess something, a person must intend to possess it. A person may be in possession of property (although possession does not always mean ownership). It is possible to want to own something without knowing that it exists. For example, if you intend to own a suitcase, you intend to own its contents even if you don`t know what`s in it. It is important to distinguish between sufficient intent to possess something and intent to commit the crime of illegal possession of something such as prohibited drugs, firearms or stolen property. [1] The intention to exclude others from the suitcase and its contents does not necessarily imply an intention to possess illegally. In the development of the civil (or Roman) legal system, property tended to take on more importance than property rights, and the same is true of the common law (or Anglo-American) system. Therefore, possession tends to be seen as prima facie evidence of property rights; There is this right against everyone except the rightful owner. The mere possession by a discoverer is sufficient to establish a claim against someone who refuses him the object without a better right than his own. “The correct conclusion about what the crop involved and what was likely to happen to the product depends on the facts of each case.
In most cases, and not only if the plants have not yet been harvested, it will not be possible to establish a count of the ownership of the material identified with the intention of delivery. The case must be dealt with by the judge. Implied possession is often involved in criminal cases. This legal theory expands the meaning of possession to include objects that are not in physical contact with the owner. The offence of possession of a controlled drug occurs when a person is unlawfully in possession or under the control of a substance or product listed in Schedule 2, Part I, II or III to the Act and had knowledge of the possession of the object, even if the person did not know that it was a controlled drug. This includes anything under his control, even if it was in someone else`s custody. POSSESSION, ownership. The possession or enjoyment of anything that a person owns or practices alone, or through another person who holds or practices it on their behalf. Through the possession of a thing, we always understand the state in which not only the own manipulation of the thing is physically possible, but the manipulation of any other person can be excluded with it.
Thus, the sailor owns his ship, but not the water in which he moves, although he submits each to its end. 2. To complete a possession, two things are required. 1st edition. Whether there is an occupation, a concern or an ingestion. 2. That ingestion is with the intention of possession (animus possidendi), so people who have no legal will cannot possess or acquire possession as children and idiots. Poth. h. Il.; Etienne, h.t. See Sea. R.
358; Abbott on the ship. 9 et seq. ยท But a sufficiently understanding child can legally come into possession of something. 3. Possession is natural or civil; Of course, if a man clings to a physical thing, for example, by occupying a house, cultivating land, or keeping a movable object in his custody; Possession is civil when a person ceases to reside in the house or land in which he or she lived or retains the movable property he or she owned, but without the intention of relinquishing possession. On land ownership, see 2 Bl. Com. 116; Hamm.
parties, 178; 1 McLean`s R. 214, 265. 4. Possession is also real or implied; In fact, if the thing is in the immediate occupation of the party. 3 Dey. No. 34. Constructive, when a man claims to hold by virtue of a title without having the actual occupation of it; Because if the owner of a regularly planted plot of land is in possession of a part, he is considered constructive in possession of the whole.
11 Vern. No. 129. What distance from the property or loss of possession is sufficient to justify theft, see 2 Chit. Cr. Law, 919; 19 lawyers, 14; Etienne, h.t. Civ. Codex de Louis. 3391, ff. 5.
In civil law, possession is divided into natural law and civil law. The same division is adopted by the Louisiana Civil Code.