There is no prescription for that which is not possessed.

Explanation

(English-origin maxim.) No prescriptive right can ripen over property that is not actually possessed — adverse possession requires actual, continuous occupation.

Where this applies

• A man claims he has a prescriptive easement across his neighbor's field, but he never actually walked across it — he just thought about doing so for twenty years.
• Someone argues they acquired ownership of a vacant lot by adverse possession, but they never set foot on the property or used it in any way.
• A farmer claims prescriptive rights to water from a stream that runs through land he never occupied or cultivated.