Is possession 9/10 of the law?

I know i'm not exactly qualified, seeing as i've never had that experience, but unless you have a written statement saying that you loaned the chair to her, it is hers. However, I do believe if you sue for the christmas present, you should probably win, because if you give something as a gift, it is not your possesion anymore.

points please. thank you.

Legally... when you are talking about personal property (as opposed to real property/ real estate).... absolutely not. Possession has absolutely nothing to do with ownership.

If you let someone borrow your bike... you know it is still yours. And you still own it. Your chair is no different.

Your question turns on whether the chair was a gift or not.

Not a gift.... then still your property. If it was a gift... it's hers.

Who has possession has nothing to do with it..... and there isn't a judge at any level of any court (Judge Alex included) who will find otherwise.

Considering you kept the matching love seat.... I would say that is decent evidence that you did not intend to GIVE her the chair.

EDIT: Just as an aside to the three people that think the old adage actually IS THE LAW. "Possession is 9/10 of the law" is a reference to HOMESTEADING real property. Never in history has that saying referred to personal property (otherwise every thief has a darn good explanation, huh?) It has had no relevance in the law since they closed the American frontier and stopped giving away land to those willing to live on it for 5 years. Prior to that it referred to land granted by an English baron to a serf. it has NO RELEVANCE in 2012.

@Sans Deity: You can dress up being ABSOLUTELY WRONG any way you like I guess.

By the way do you know what COURT is for? Offering evidence. You know what the OWNER generally has that the POSSESSOR generally does not??

Yep..... a receipt/ bill of sale.

Yes, possession is 9/10ths of the law. However, the other 1/10th is proving that the item is yours. If you have solid evidence (like a receipt or a cancelled check, or a CC statement) that the chair is yours (and she doesn't have proof, like an email or text, that this was a gift), then legally she can't keep it.

However, if you don't have proof, then legally she owns it since she possesses it and you have no way of showing that it isn't hers.

@Greg: Calm down, sparky. I'm not saying that "Possession is 9/10ths of the law" is an actual LAW. I'm saying that it's a good adage for how the law decides cases like these.

In this instance, his ex has possession of the chair. Therefore, unless the OP can come up with evidence that the chair is his and not hers, the chair belongs to her because the courts would have no reason to force his ex to return it to him. That's why I said the other 1/10th is evidence of ownership. Because without other evidence, possession is the most compelling evidence for who has ownership.

So yes, if you let a friend borrow a bike, the bike is still "yours", but if you let your friend borrow it, but have no way to prove it is yours, then for all legal purposes, it belongs to the friend since they possess it. Hence, "possession is 9/10ths of the law"

@Greg: And again, what did I say the other "1/10ths of the law" was? You guessed it, EVIDENCE. This would include a receipt or bill of sale (which I directly mentioned). What part of my argument did you misunderstand? I said that UNLESS YOU HAVE OTHER EVIDENCE LIKE A RECEIPT, then, legally speaking, whoever is in physical posession of an item is the owner in the eyes of the law. This is where the adage applies. It's not my fault you're too dense to actually understand the meaning of my argument. Let me quote directly and add stars for emphasis so you don't miss it again:

"In this instance, his ex has possession of the chair. Therefore, ************>>>>>>>>>>unless the OP can come up with evidence that the chair is his and not hers<<<<<<<<<<<<<************* the chair belongs to her because the courts would have no reason to force his ex to return it to him. *******That's why I said the other 1/10th is evidence of ownership. Because without other evidence, possession is the most compelling evidence for who has ownership.***************"

If you bought it with no intention of a reimbursement (nothing signed, or verbal agreement with witness) you are probably SOL. If you do get a good judge though the judge will force her to pay for half, If you get a really good judge, you may be able to get it all. From my experiences though I have always gotten a feminist judge. Hope this helps, small claims court I believe is free in a lot of states, so all you have to lose is time.