Usucapio pro herede in the Title 41,5 of Justinian’s “Digest” Cover Image

Usucapio pro herede w tytule 41,5 „Digestów” justyniańskich
Usucapio pro herede in the Title 41,5 of Justinian’s “Digest”

Author(s): Kamil Sorka
Subject(s): History of Law, Civil Law, Sociology of Law
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: usucaption; usucapio; heir; inheritance; individual goods belonged to the inheritance; acquisition; Roman law sources; Justinian’s „Digest”; „Paraphrase” attributed to Theophilus;

Summary/Abstract: The Roman law sources dedicated to “usucapion as an heir” (usucapio pro herede) are the fragment of 2nd book of Gaius’ “Institutes” and the title Pro herede vel pro possessore of 41st book of Justinian’s “Digest”. The paper analyzes the second of them. After decisions made by the emperors Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius usucapio pro herede was marginalized, however – never formally abolished. Then we cannot find any mention about that kind of usucaption till the time of Justinian’s “Digest”. The title 41,5 consists of 4 fragments taken from works of Pomponius, Julian and Paulus. The research proves that the texts were chosen by the compilers without any essential connexion. Neither sources criticism nor palingenetic interpretation can answer rising questions. In fact, we cannot define the shape of usucapio pro herede in Justinian’s law. Why did Justinian keep such institution at all? The answer is problematic. The end of the work follows “Paraphrase” attributed to Theophilus as a broad context of Justinianic point of view. According to it, it seems that usucapio pro herede lost any practical signifi cance.

  • Issue Year: 10/2017
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 393-418
  • Page Count: 26
  • Language: Polish