The Funniest Land Law Rule I've Come Across in my Research
The law originates from English Law (Common Law and Equity) which is widely practiced by most countries that had English colonizers like USA, Canada, Nigeria, etc.
An Adverse Possessor (AP) is one who occupies a land without the permission of the owner, somehow. Say you built a house and then traveled to another continent and have been gone for 10 years or so and a stranger just moves into your house without letting you know, that stranger is an Adverse Possessor.
If this AP then decides to rent out part of your house in order to make extra cash and after a while the tenant discovers that he isn't the owner of the house and decides to stop paying rent, the AP can sue the tenant, and when the tenant tells the Court that the AP is not the owner of the house the court would say it doesn't matter, that the tenant must pay or be evicted.
LOL.
The law is no one can contest the house/lamd with the AP, and whether he owns the house or not is nobody's business except the owner of the house. So until the owner of the house returns and tries to take it from the AP, the AP can do whatever he wants with the house except sell it.
Guys, isn't this some crazy ass law?
And when the owner returns, guess what the law says? The owner can't just forcibly enter and evict this stranger, owner has to follow due process amd get a court order first. LOL.
You already kinda feel like being a successful AP, huh?
The thing is, my research has been on Nigerian Laws, and this AP law stands in Nigeria, but because its origin is English Law I think it still stands in England and a lot of other jurisdictions the British colonized.
Although in addition to this some countries have brutal trespass laws. Plus even in countries where this AP law holds sway, when the owner returns and obtains the Court order that enables him to evict the AP, thw owner can sue the AP for trespass and other damages. So being an AP is not that much fun 😅. But a successful AP, though, could be the dream 🤣🤣.
The End
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This post is funny but surprising. Adverse possession allows someone to live in another person’s house without permission and still has legal protection. The real owner can’t force them out without a court order. It shows how strange and serious some laws can be and why it’s important to know your rights.
It's exactly like this, it happened in our city too. Earlier, the laws here were not so strict and people used to occupy the place and rent it out in such a way that they used to get profit every month. And there were quite a few people who were getting such profit, but now the laws here have become strict and it has become impossible to do that. This is a much more humorous story.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ThatsInsane/comments/1ky6ums/the_crazy_legal_loophole_that_lets_strangers_take/
This post has been shared on Reddit by @flummi97 through the HivePosh initiative.
The maritime law, or admiralty law, often traced back to ancient Rome, is a body of legal principles governing maritime activities, navigation, and commerce on the sea. While its origins are frequently linked to Rome, the reality is a bit more complex—Rome played a role, but maritime law evolved over centuries, drawing from multiple ancient cultures.
In ancient Rome, around the 3rd century BCE, maritime trade was booming across the Mediterranean. The Romans developed early legal frameworks to manage disputes arising from sea trade, such as shipwrecks, piracy, and contracts for shipping goods. One key contribution was the concept of lex Rhodia, a maritime code from the Greek island of Rhodes (which Rome adopted after conquering the region around 146 BCE). The lex Rhodia included rules like the "jettison principle," where losses from goods thrown overboard to save a ship were shared among all parties—a precursor to modern maritime insurance. Roman law, codified in texts like the Corpus Juris Civilis under Emperor Justinian in the 6th century CE, later incorporated these principles, influencing European legal systems.
However, maritime law predates Rome. The earliest known maritime code is the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (circa 1754 BCE), which had rules for shipping contracts and liability. Ancient Egypt (around 3000 BCE) also had regulations for Nile River trade, and the Phoenicians (1200 BCE) developed customs for maritime commerce across the Mediterranean. The lex Rhodia itself likely dates back to 800 BCE, long before Rome’s dominance.
By the Middle Ages, Rome’s influence on maritime law was clear in texts like the Consolat de Mar (13th century), a Catalan code used in the Mediterranean, and the Rolls of Oléron (12th century), which spread Roman-inspired maritime rules across Europe. These laws eventually evolved into modern frameworks like the UNCLOS (1982), which 168 countries follow today.
In English, "maritime law" and "admiralty law" are often interchangeable, but "admiralty law" historically refers to the jurisdiction of English courts under the Admiral’s authority (starting in the 14th century), while "maritime law" is the broader term used globally. Both stem from those ancient roots, including Rome’s contributions, and govern everything from trade to environmental regulations on the sea in 2025.
Crazy..