A Manual of Roman Law

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1893 edition. Excerpt: ... chapter X. methods of acquisition. 1. Occupation, or first Seizure.--Occupancy is the advisedly taking possession of that which at the moment is the property of no man, with the view of acquiring property in it for yourself.1 (a) Wild beasts, birds, fishes, and the like, so soon as they were captured, became the property of him who caught them. (b) Again, the first taker of an article which its owner had treated as derelict became at once the owner of it. But an exception to this was when goods had been cast overboard from a vessel in a storm, with intent only to lighten and save the ship. For these remained the property of their owners, since it was plain that their desire was not to abandon the goods, but merely to escape from the perils of the sea. The whole result therefore turned upon the intention of the owners. And whereas a good acquisition could be made of articles really abandoned, it was theft to appropriate a thing which its owner had no intention to put away. 1 Anc. Law, 11th Ed., p. 245. (c) Things taken from an enemy were also the private property of him who captured them. And the rule applied even to the person of an enemy, if captured, as well as his property. Any first seizure, in fact, of a thing capable of ownership would constitute acquisition by occupation. The principle of occupancy generally is summed up in the maxim: "res nullius cedit occupanti;" and by "res nullius" should be understood not only a thing which had never belonged to anybody, but also that which had been owned and designedly discarded. 2. Accession.--This happened when something accrued to a man's property, the added part coming by reason of his ownership of the thing acceded or added to, and not necessarily through effort or labour of his own. In...