Explanation of Article 673
The article addressed the definition of possession; it defined it as: the situation where a person has control over the possessed item, appearing as the owner. This means actual control over the item by performing physical acts that the owner usually does in exercising their ownership rights over that item. The possessor uses, exploits, and disposes of the item as an owner would. A person is considered a possessor of the item when they exercise the rights of the owner concerning that item according to its nature, such as inhabiting, cultivating, renting, securing, benefiting from it, or disposing of it through sale, gift, mortgage, and the like; whether this person actually owns the item or not. The phrase (appearing as the owner) does not mean that the intention behind these acts is to acquire ownership of that item; rather, it means that the possessor's intention in performing these acts is to act as the owner of the item, so that the physical acts they perform are intended to exercise the ownership rights of the item; they are intentional acts, yet they remain physical acts, not legal acts. Thus, it becomes clear that possession consists of a physical element, which is actual control, and a mental element, which is the possessor's intention to use the right for their own benefit, as if they were the rightful owner. Other real rights, like the right of usufruct or easement, are similar; a person is considered a possessor of the right of usufruct or easement, for example, if they use it as if they were the owner of that right, whether they have acquired that right or not.
Related To
Article 673
Possession is an act whereby a person acquires a thing and acts as the owner thereof.