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possession is nine points of the law
Idioms and Phrases
Actually holding something is better than merely claiming it. For example, When Karen told John he must return the sofa he'd borrowed, he said possession is nine points of the law . This term originally alluded to nine elements that would aid someone's lawsuit, among them a good lawyer, good witnesses, a good jury, a good judge, and good luck. In time, however, the term was used more for squatter's rights. [Late 1500s]Example Sentences
The Palestinians may well have won the propaganda war but possession is nine points of the law and they don't possess the ability to dislodge the occupants.
If possession is nine points of the law, there was never a place in the history of the world held with nine as obvious points.
Possession is nine points of the law, and they say there are but ten.
Possession is nine points of the law, and the soil was in possession of the small knot of Protestants, who knew that their existence depended on keeping the majority in chains.
And thus, on the principle that "possession is nine points of the law," it secures for its roots the use of a certain amount of territory quite safe from the encroachments of other plants.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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