Part II
Dan OANCEA, Modes of acquiring ownership in the Roman law
The Romans have very late reached the abstract concept of the mode of acquiring ownership, developments towards an abstract concept in that regard being made only at the end of the classical era. The analysis of Roman texts reveals that there were several classifications of the modes of acquiring ownership: of civil and bonitarian law, universal and particular, original and derivative, conventional and unconventional. Occupatio consisted in the taking into hold of things with no owner (res nullius) and was one of the oldest and, at the same time, long lasting modes of acquiring ownership. The mancipation was originally a mode of creation of individual power over things mancipi, becoming thereafter the original form of the legal operation of sale, which required complicate forms. Usucaption was a mode of acquiring ownership over the things mancipi by way of their long use; its original function was to ensure the appropriate use of such things, followed thereafter by the function of avoiding uncertainty regarding property. In iure cessio was a derivative mode, which required a simulated trial within a non-contentious procedure. Other than the complicate civil modes, the tradition – an act of jus gentium – ensured the transmission of property, possession or detainment over corporeal nec mancipi things, in an efficient manner and without any solemn forms. Specificatio, as an original mode of acquiring ownership, occurred when someone was manufacturing a new thing with the materials belonging to another person. Accession consisted of the legal absorption by a principal thing of a secondary one. Other modes of acquiring ownership were adiudicatio, the law and the alienation made by the Roman state.
Keywords: concept, occupatio, mancipation, usucaption, in iure cessio, tradition, specificatio, accession, other modes of acquiring ownership
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