Possession is having some degree of control over something else. In all cases, to possess something, a person must have an intention to possess it. A person may be in possession of some property (although possession does not always imply ownership). Like ownership, the possession of things is commonly regulated by states under property law. Languages have several means to indicate possession.

Sus law

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

In Britain, the Sus law was the informal name for a stop-and-search law that permitted a police officer to act on suspicion, or 'sus', alone.

It was based upon Sections 4 and 6 of the Vagrancy Act 1824 which made it "illegal for a suspected person or reputed thief to frequent or loiter in a public place with intent to commit an arrestable offence" and effectively permitted the police to stop and search and even arrest anyone they chose, purely on the basis of suspicion as a crime-prevention tactic.

The law caused much discontent among certain sections of the population and was abolished following riots in St Pauls, Bristol, in 1980, and in Brixton, London, and Toxteth, Liverpool, in 1981, because its alleged abuse was believed to be a contributory factor to these events. ^[1] Following Lord Scarman's inquiry into the cause of the Brixton riots, the sus law was dropped.

Subsequent British legislation which makes provision for the police to act on the basis of suspicion alone has been denounced as "another sus law" by opponents of proposals to grant British police "stop and question" powers: ^[2]

Mr Hain said he wanted to see the details of the policy before making any judgement.

But he told BBC1’s Sunday AM: “We cannot have a reincarnation of the old ‘sus’ laws under which mostly black people, ethnic minorities, were literally stopped on sight and that created a really bad atmosphere and an erosion of civil liberties.”