POSSESSION Copy link • POSSESSIONThe act of possessing, occupancy, possessio: to take possession, gain or obtain possession of anything, potiri aliqua re, or aliquam rem, or alicujus rei (to get into one’s power; ☞ the genitive, except in the expression rerum potiri, appears to be used, in good prose, only when the object of attainment or of possession is a person; the ablative when it is a thing; the accusative when it is a town, a place, etc.; Vid: Beier, Cic., Off., 2, 23, 81; Bremi, Cic., Fat., 14, p. 31): occupare (to take, seize; PROP. and figuratively): capere (to catch, a person; to take, a town, etc.): in ditionem or sub potestatem suam redigere (to bring under one’s power): aliquid in se trahere (to draw to one’s self; e.g., munia senatus, Tac., Ann., 1, 2, 1). To get possession of anyone, capere, comprehendere, arripere aliquem: possidere aliquem (figuratively, brevi tempore totum hominem possesserat; Cic., Verr., 2, 3, 68): to put one’s self quickly in possession of, in possessionem alicujus rei involare (unjustly): to give a person possession of the goods of another, mittere aliquem in possessionem bonorum alicujus; immittere aliquem in alicujus bona: to put a person again in possession of a thing, possessionem alicujus rei restituere alicui: to put anyone out of possession, de possessione dimovere et dejicere; possessione deturbare, depellere: to remain in possession of a thing, in possessione alicujus rei manere or permanere; rem in possessione sua retinere: to come into possession of a thing, in possessionem alicujus rei venire; (again) possessionem amissum recuperare: to give up possession, possessione cedere, decedere; illa villa solius tua (you have sole possession of). Property possessed, possessio. To have great possessions, magnas possessiones habere (general term); agros or latifundia habere (in landed property).