“ ‘Habere’ has two meanings; for we say that the owner of a thing ‘has’ it and also that a nonowner who holds the thing ‘has’ it. Lastly, we use the word in relation to property deposited with us.” Digest of Justinian 45. 1.38.9 (Ulpian, Ad Sabinum 49).
habere
habere (h[schwa]-beer-ee), vb. [Latin “to have”] Roman law. To have (the right to) something. • This term was sometimes distinguished from tenere (to hold) and possidere (to possess), with habere referring to the right, tenere to the fact, and possidere to both.