However, friends of those involved in the occupation claimed they had displayed notices saying they were legally occupying a disused building under squatting law.

The proposed Neighborhood Preservation Act would outlaw dozens of houses like Mr. Galvez's by limiting the number of people who can legally occupy rentals.

Mangal do Barro Vermelho is one of only a handful of quilombos that have completed the titling process, and it now legally occupies more than 17,000 acres.

The judges ruled that the Bushmen legally occupied the land in 2002 when Botswana's government forced them out.

China claims them but legally occupies the lower one-third; the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia occupy the northern third, with the middle third a neutral zone.

She sat in the fifth row with three other blacks, the farthest row forward blacks could legally occupy.