Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

USUCAPIO. USUCAPIO. 1219
she did not wish thus to come into her husband's the ownership by Usucapio, for the mala fides in
hand, she must in every year absent herself from which their possession originated was an obstacle
him for three nights in order to interrupt the usis. to the Usucapio, but no person who bona fide
(Gaius, i. 110.) Thus Usucapio added to Usus bought the thing that was stolen or vi posseesa,
produced the effect of Coemptio. In the case of could acquire the ownership by Usucapio. (Gains,
the Hereditas, when the testator had the testament1 ii. 45.) According to other authorities the rule as
factio, and had disposed of his property without to a stolen thing was established by the Lex
observing the forms of Mancipatio and Nuncupatio, Atinia. Provincial lands also were not objects of
the person whom he had named his heres, could ob- Usucapio.
tain the legal ownership of the hereditas by Usu- If a woman was in the tutela of her agnati, her
capio. (Gains, ii. 54.) In all these cases then the Res Mancipi could not be objects of Usucapic,
old law as to Usucapio was this: when the positive unless they had been received from her by traditio
law had required the forms of Mancipatio in order with the auctoritas of her tutor; and this was a
that a certain end should be effected, Usucapio sup- provision of the Twelve Tables. The legal incapaplied the defect of form, by converting a possessio city of the woman to transfer ownership by Man(subsequently called In bonis) into Dominium ex cipatio must be the origin of this rule. The
jure Quiritium. Usucapio then was not originally a property of a woman who was in Tutela legitima
mode of acquisition, but it was a mode by which could not be an object of Usucapio, as Cicero exa defect in the mode of acquisition was supplied, plains to Atticus (de tutela legitizma nihil usucapo
and this defect was supplied by the use of the posse, ad Att. i. 5). The foundation of this rule,
thing, or the exercise of the right. The end of according to some, was the legal incapacity of a
Usucapio was to combine the beneficial with the woman who was in the tutela of her Agnati, to
Quiritarian ownership of a thing. Accordingly the make a will. [TESTAM.ENTu[M; bitt see TUTEA.]
original name for Usucapio was Usus Auctoritas, In order to acquire by usucapio, a person must
the auctoritas of usus or that which gives to Usus have the capacity of Roman ownership; conseits efficacy and completeness, a sense of Auctoritas quently all persons were excluded from acquiring
which is common in the Roman Law. Some say by Usucapio who had not the Commercium. The
that usus auctoritas is usus et auctoritas. (Cic. Pro passage quoted by Cicero (de Offic. i. 12) from the
C6ecin. 19.) [AUCTORITAS; TUTEIr..] But Usus Twelve Tables, " adversum hostem (i. e. perealone never signifies Usucapio; and consistently grinum) aeterna auctoritas," is alleged in support
with this, in those cases where there could be no of this rule of law; that is, a Peregrinus may have
Usucapio, the Roman writers speak of Usus only. the use of a Res Mancipi which has been transPossessio is the Usus of a piece of ground as op- feorred by traditio, but he can never acquire any.
posed to the ownership of it; and the term Usus thing more by Usucapio.
was applied to the enjoyment of land of which a Things could not be objects of Usucapio, which
man either had not the ownership or of which he were not objects of Coinmercium. Accordingly all
could not have the ownership, as the Ager publicus. Res divini juris, such as temples and lands dediIn the later law, as it is known to us in the Pan- cated to the gods, and Res communes could not be
dect, Usucapio was a mode of acquiring ownership, objects of Usucapio. The Limits or bounds by
the term Usus Auctoritas was replaced by the which the Romanus Ager was marked out were
phrase Usus Capere, and in the place of Usucapio consequently not objects of Usucapio, as to which
somletimes the phrase "possessione or longa pos- there was a provision in the Twelve Tables. (Cic.
sessionle capere" occurs; but Possessio alone never de Leg. i. 21. "6 Quoniam usucapioneni intra quinque
is used for Usucapio. In order to establish the pedes esse noluerunt.") The Quinque pedesare the
title by Usucapio, the Possession must be continuous limites linearii, the breadth of which was fixed at
or uninterrupted during the whole Usucapion. If five feet by a Lex Mamilia. The approach to a
there was an interruption of the Possession (usur- sepulchre was also not an object of Usucapio.
patio), and the Possession was acquired again, this Free men could not be objects of Usucapio. (Gaius,
was the commencement of a new Usucapio. The ii. 48.)
possession must also have a legal origin, without In the time of Gains (ii. 51) a man might take
which the possession would have no effect. The possession of another person's land, provided he
possessor must be able to show an origin of his used no force (vis), the possession of which was
possession which would give him at least bonitarian vacant either from the carelessness of the owner, or
ownership: this was called justa causa possessionis, because the owner had died without a Successor
tituls nusucapionis. The causa might be a bargain [SUccEssio], or had been long absent; and if he
and sale0 a gift (donatio), a legacy and others. transferred the field to a bona fide purchaser, the
It appears from a passage of Gains already purchaser could acquire the ownership by Usucaquoted, that in his time Usucapio was a regular pio, even though the seller knew that the field was
mode of acquisition, which was applicable to things not his own. This rule was established against
which had come to a man by tradition from one the opinion of those who contended that a Fundus
who nwas not the owner, and was applicable both could be Furtivus or an object of theft. But a
to Res Mancipi and Nec Mancipi, if the possessor man might in some cases acquire by Usucapio the
acquired the possession of them bona fide; that is, ownership of a thing which he knew to be not his
for instance, if he believed that he brought them own: as if a man had possession of a thing befrom the owner. There were however some ex- longing to the hereditas, of which the heres had
ceptions to this rule: a man could never acquire never acquired: the, possession, provided it was a
the ownership of a stolen thing by Usucapio, for thing that could be an object of Usucapio. This
the Twelve Tables prevented it, and the Lex Julia species of possessio and usucapio was called Pro
et Plaultla prevented Usucapio in the case of a herede: and even things immovable (quae solo
thing Vi possessa. The meaning of the law was continentu'r) could be thus acquired by one year's
not that the thief or the robber could not acquire usucapio. The reason was this: the Twelve Tabies
4 12