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

ACCESSIO. ACERRA. 3
contract. In other words acceptilatio is the form land and attached to the land of another, it became
of words by which a creditor releases his debtor the property of the man to whose land it was atfrom a debt or obligation, and acknowledges he has tached after it was firmly attached to it, but not
received that which in fact he has not received before. This must notbe confounded with the case
(veluti imaginaria solutio). This release of debt by of ALLUVIO.
acceptilatio applies only to such debts as have been The person who lost his property by accessio
contracted by stipulatio, conformably to a rule of had as a general rule a right to be indemnified
Roman law, that only contracts made by words for his loss by the person who acquired the new
can be put an end to by words. But the astuteness property. The exceptions were cases of mala fides.
of the Roman lawyers found a mode of complying The term accessio is also applied to things which
with the rule, and at the same time extending the are the products of other things, and not added to
acceptilatio to all kinds and to any number of con- them externally as in the case just mentioned.
tracts. This was the invention of Gallus Aquilius, Every accessio of this kind belongs to the owner
who devised a formula for reducing all and every of the principal thing: the produce of a beast, the
kind of contracts to the stipulatio. This being produce of a field, and of a tree belongs to the
done, the acceptilatio would immediately apply, owner. In some cases one man may have a right
inasmuch as the matter was by such formula to the produce (fructus) of a thing, though the
brought within the general rule of law above men- thing belongs to another. [Usvs FRUCTUS.]
tioned. The acceptilatio must be absolute and not The term accessiones was also applied to those
conditional. A part of a debt or obligation might who were sureties or boundfor others, as fidejussores.
be released as well as the whole, provided the (Dig. 45. tit. 1. s. 91.; Puchta, Cursus der Instituthing was in its nature capable of division. A tionen, ii. p. 661; Dig. 41. tit. 1; Gains, ii. 73,
pupillus could not release a debt by acceptilatio, &c. CONFUSIO.) [G. L.]
without the auctoritas of his tutor, but he could be ACCLAMAITIO was the public expression of
released from a debt. A woman also could not approbation or disapprobation, pleasure or dis-.
release a debt by stipulatio without the auctoritas pleasure, &c. by loud acclamations. On many ocof a tutor. The phrase by which a creditor is said casions, there appear to have been certain forms of
to release his debtor by acceptilatio is, debitori ac- acclamations always used by the Romans; as, for
ceptum, or acceipto facere or ferre, or acceptusn Sa- instance, at marriages, lo Hymen, Hyjmenaee, or
bere. When anything which was done on the behalf Talassio (explained by Liv. i. 9.); at triumphs, lo
of or for the state, such as a building for instance, triumlphe, Io triumzphe; at the conclusion of plays
was approved by the competent authorities, it was the last actor called out Plaudite to the spectators;
said, in accept-sm ferri, or referri. (Dig. 46. tit. orators were usually praised by such expressions as
4; 48. tit. 11. s. 7; Gaius, ii. 84, &c. iii. 169, Bene et praeclare, Belle etfestive, Non potest melius,
&c.) [G. L.] -&c. (Cic. De Orat. iii. 26.) Under the empire
ACCE'SSIO is a legal term which signifies that the name of acclamnationes was given to the praises
two things are united in such wise that one is and flatteries which the senate bestowed upon the
considered to become a component part of the other; emperor and his family. These acclamationes,
one thing is considered the principal, and the other which are frequently quoted by the Scriptores Hisis considered to be an accession or addition to it. toriae Augustae, were often of considerable length,
Sometimes it may be doubtful which is to be con- and seem to have been chanted by the whole body
sidered the principal thing and which the accession. of senators. There were regular acclamnationes
But the owner of the principal thing, whichever it shouted by the people, of which one of the most
is, became the owner of the accession also. The common was Dii te servent. (Capitol. laim. duo,
most undisputed kind of accessio is that which 16, 26, Gordian. tres, 11; Lamprid. Alex. Sevse.
arises from the union of a thing with the ground; 6-12; Vopisc. Tac. 4, 5, 7, Prob. 11.) Other
and when the union between the ground and the instances of acclzaationes are given by Ferrarius,
thing is complete, the thing belongs to him who is De Veterum Acclacmationibus et Plausu, in Graevius,
the owner of the ground. Thus if a man builds T27esaur. Rom. Antiq. vol. vi.
on the ground of another man, the building belongs ACCUBA'TIO, the act of reclining at meals.
to the owner of the ground, unless it is a building [COENA.]
of a moveable nature, as a tent; for the rlle of law ACCU'BITA, the name of couches which were
is " superficies solo cedit." A tree belonging to used in the time of the Roman emperors, instead
one man, if planted in the ground of another man, of the triclinium, for reclining upon at meals. The
belongs to the owner of the ground as soon as it mattresses and feather-beds were softer and higher,
has taken root. The same rule applies to seeds and the supports (fulcra) of them lower in proand plants. portion, than in the triclinium. The clothes and
If one man wrote on the papyrus (chartulae) or pillows spread over them were called accubitcalia.
parchment (membranae) of another, the material (Lamprid. Heliog. 19, 25; Schol. ad Junv. Sat. v.
was considered the principal, and of course the 17.) [J. Y.]
writing belonged to the owner of the paper or parch- ACCUSA'TIO. [JuDEx.]
ment. If a man painted a picture on another man's ACERRA (AfavcwTpis), the incense box used
wood (tabula) or whatever the materials might be, in sacrifices. (Hor. Carm. iii. 8. 2; Virg. Aen. v.
the painting was considered to be the principal 745.) The incense was taken out of the acerra
(tabula picturae cedit). The principle which de- and let fall upon the burning altar: hence, we have
termined the acquisition of a new property by ac- the expression de acerra libacre. (Ov. ex Pont. iv.
cessio was this- the intimate and inseparable union 8. 39; Pers. ii. 5.) [TURIBULuM.] The acerra
of the accessory with the principal. Accordingly, represented below is taken from a bas-relief in the
there might be accessio by pure accident without museum of the Capitol.
the intervention of any rational agent. If a piece The acerra was also, according to Festus (s. v.),
of land was torn away by a stream from one man's a small altar, placed before the dead, on which
n 2