§ 102 Concurrent Possession
It was a maxim of the civil law that two persons could not be in possession of the same thing at the same time. Plures eandem rem in solidum possidere non possunt.242 As a general proposition this is true; for exclusiveness is of the essence of possession. Two adverse claims of exclusive use cannot both be effectually realised at the same time. Claims, however, which are not adverse, and which are not, therefore, mutually destructive, admit of concurrent realisation. Hence there are several possible cases of duplicate possession.
1. Mediate and immediate possession coexist in respect of the same thing as already explained.
2. Two or more persons may possess the same thing in common, just as they may own it in common. This is called compossessio by the civilians.
3. Corporeal and incorporeal possession may coexist in respect of the same material object, just as corporeal and incorporeal ownership may. Thus A. may possess the land, while B. possesses a right of way over it. For it is not necessary, as we have already seen, that A.’s claim of exclusive use should be absolute; it is sufficient that it is general.