He cannot be considered as having ceased to have a thing, who never had it.

Explanation

(English-origin maxim.) A party cannot claim to have lost what he never possessed — the defense of prior possession fails when the claimant never held the thing in the first place.

Where this applies

• A man sues his neighbor for "returning" a lawnmower he claims was borrowed, but the neighbor proves the man never owned a lawnmower in the first place.
• A former employee demands the return of client files, but the company shows he was never given custody of those files during his employment.
• A tenant claims the landlord took away her parking spot, but the lease shows no parking spot was ever assigned to her.