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

BONA FIDES. BONORUM CESSIO. 207
He who took the portion of a heres, which used instead of ex bona fide. (Gaius, iv. 62; Cic.e
became caducum, took it by universal succession: Of/. iii. 17, Topic. c. 17; Brissonius, De fobrmli2cs,
in the case of a legacy, the caducum was a singular &c. lib. v.)
succession. But he who took anhereditas caduca, BONA RAPTA. [FuRTUM.]
took it with the bequests of freedom, of legacies, BONA VACA'NTIA were originally the proand fidei commissa with which it was burthened: perty which a person left at his death without
if the legata and fidei commissa became caduca, all having disposed of it by will, and without leaving
charges with which they were burthened became any oeres. Such property was open to occupancy,
caduca also. In the time of Constantine, both the and so long as the strict laws of inheritance excaelebs, and the orbus, or childless person (who was isted, such an event must not have been uncomunder a limited incapacity), obtained the full legal mon. A remedy was, however, found for this by
capacity of taking the inheritance. (Cod. viii. 58.) the bonorum possessio of the praetor.
Justinian (Cod. vi. 51) put an end to the caducum, It does not appear that the state originally
with all its legal consequences. In this last-men- claimed the property of a person who died intestioned title (De Caducis tollendis) it is stated both tate and without heredes legitimi. The. claim of
that the name and the thing (nomen et materias the state to such property seems to have been first
caducorum) had their origin in the civil wars, that established by the Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea.
many provisions of the law were evaded, and many [BONA CADUCA.] The state, that is, in the earlier.had become obsolete. (Juv. Sat. ix. 88; Gaius, periods the aerarium, and afterwards the fiscus,
i. 150, ii. 207, iii. 144, 286; Lipsius, Excurs. ad did not take such property as heres, but it took it
*Tacit. Ann. iii. 25; Marezoll, Lehrbuch der lnstititt. per universitatem. In the later periods of the
des Rion. Reczts.) As to the Dos Caduca, see empire, in the case of a soldier dying without
Dos. [G. L.] heredes, the legion to which he belonged had a
BONA FIDES. This term frequently occurs claim before the fiscus; and various corporate
in the Latin writers, and particularly in the Roman bodies had a like preference in the case of a memjurists. It can only be defined with reference to ber of the corporation dying without heredes.
things opposed to it, namely, mala fides, and dolus (Marezoll, Lehrbulch der Instit. des Rtmns. Rechts;
malus, both of which terms, and especially the Savigny, System, &c. vol. ii. p. 300.) [G. L.]
latter, are frequently used in a technical sense. BONO'RUM CE'SSIO. There were two kinds
iDoLus MALUS.] of bonorum cessio, in jzure and extrajus. The In
Generally speaking, bona fides implies the ab- jure cessio is treated under its proper head.
sence of all fraud and unfair dealing or acting. In The bonorums cessio extrcajs was introduced by
this sense, bona fides, that is, the absence of all a Julian law, passed either in the time of Julius
fraud, whether the fraud consists in simulation or Caesar or Augustus, which allowed an insolvent
dissimulation, is a necessary ingredient in all con- debtor to give up his property to his creditors.
tracts. The debtor might declare his willingness to give
Bona fide possidere applies to him who has ac- up his property by letter or by a verbal message.
quired the possession of a thing under a good title, The debtor thus avoided the infamia consequent
as he supposes. He who possessed a thing bona on the bonorum emtio, which was involuntary,
fide, had a capacity of acquiring the ownership and he was free from all personal execution. He
by usucapion, and had the protection of the actio was also allowed to retain a small portion of his
Publiciana. Thus a person who received a thing property for his support. An old gloss describes
either mancipi, or nec mancipi, not from the owner, the bonorum cessio thus: Cedere bonis est ab unibut from a person whom he believed to be the versitate rereum suarune recedere.
owner, could acquire the ownership by usucapion. The property thus given up was sold, and the
(Gaius, ii. 43; Ulp. Frag. xix. 8.) A thing which proceeds distributed among the creditors. The
wasfiJrtiva or vi possessea, or the res mancipi of a purchaser did not obtain the Quiritarian ownership
female who was in the tutela of her agnati, unless of the property by the act of purchase. If the
it was delivered by her under the auctoritas of her debtor subsequently acquired property, this also
tutor, was not subject to usucapion, and therefore was liable to the payment of his old debts, with
in these cases the presence or absence of bona fides some limitations, if they were not already fully
was immaterial. (Gaius, i. 192, ii. 45, &c.; Cic. satisfied. A constitution of Alexander Severus
Ad Art. i. 5, Pro Flacco, c. 34.) A person who (Cod. 7. tit. 71. s. 1) declares that those who made
bought from a pupillus without the auctoritas of a bonorum cessio were not released, unless the
his tutor, or with the auctoritas of a person whom creditors were fully paid; but they had the privilie knew not to be the tutor, did not purchase lege of not being imprisoned, if judgment was given
bona fide; that is, he was guilty of a legal fraud. against them in an action by one of their old creA sole tutor could not purchase a thing bona fide ditors,
from his pupillus; and if he purchased it from The benefit of the lex Julia was extended by
another to whom a non bona fide sale had been imperial constitutions to the provinces.
made, the transaction was null. (Dig. 26. tit. 8. The history of the bonorum cessio does not
s. 5.) seem quite clear. The Jullan law, however, was
In various actions arising out of mutual dealings, not the oldest enactment which relieved the person
such as buying and selling, lending and hiring, of the debtor from being taken in execution. The
partnership, and others, bona fides is equivalent to lex Poetelia Papiria (B. c. 327) exempted the peraequum and jtistum; and such actions were some- son of the debtor (nisi qui noxam meruisset), and
times called bonae fidei actiones. The formula of only made his property (bona) liable for his debts.
the praetor, which was the authority of the judex, It does not appear from the passage in Livy (viii.
empowered him in such cases to inquire and deter- 28) whether this was a bonorum cessio in the
mine ex bona fide, that is according to the real sense of the bonorum cessio of the Julian law, or
merits of the case: sometimes aequius melius was only a bonorum emtio with the privilege of freedom