seisin

seisin, in English feudal society, a term that came to mean a type of possession that gained credibility with the passage of time. Seisin was not ownership nor was it mere possession that could be established by the seizure of land. Seisin belonged to someone who used the land or exercised rights over it.

In a dispute over seisin the winner would be the one who proved he had tilled the land or administered justice in the period prior to the suit. His case was strengthened if his ancestors had held the land and if he could prove it by the testimony of witnesses.

Actual seisin existed when a freeholder was in possession of the land or if someone else was holding it for him. Seisin in law was the right of an heir to seisin over the land even if he had not actually taken possession of it.