The possession alone, and first possession, is supposed to convey property, when nobody else has any preceding claim and pretension. Many of the reasonings of lawyers are of this analogical nature, and depend on very slight connections of the imagination.

— DAVID HUME, Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Sec. III., Part 2, Essays, Vol. II., p. 190.

There is indeed some difference among the writers on natural law, concerning the reason why occupancy should convey this right (i. e., to the permanent property of the soil) . . . a dispute that savors too much of nice and scholastic refinement.

— BLACKSTONE’S COMMENTARIES, Book II., Chap. i, p. 8.