Summary This work is a monographic treatment of the Roman usucapio, which gave rise to the modern-day institution of acquisitive prescription in common law, mixed law and statutory law systems. The attempt to discuss this topic stems from...
moreSummary
This work is a monographic treatment of the Roman usucapio, which gave rise to the modern-day institution of acquisitive prescription in common law, mixed law and statutory law systems. The attempt to discuss this topic stems from an appreciation of the role of this institution in the past as well as its continued application in numerous legal systems of today. Acquisitive prescription is extraordinary, considering that the definition of its essential characteristics, proposed by the Roman jurist Modestinus, remains valid even today and continues to serve as a basis for present-day legal regulations. It is no wonder therefore that it has laid the foundation for the regulations contained in the Draft Common Frame Reference.
As an original product of Roman legal thought, acquisitive prescription is a labyrinthine tangle of problems and concepts bound together through a shared history. These follow from premises which make for a high level of its complexity. They appeared in Roman law one by one over centuries as the Roman state developed through its successive stages. This was a natural product of legal progress, making law increasingly more complex as legal affairs grew ever more sophisticated and judicial activity intensified.
Roman law aimed to provide the owner with maximum protection. Therefore, acquisitive prescription – a form of expropriation – was allowed by necessity, but kept within relatively narrow limits. Originally, acquisitive prescription became effective when the holder had been in possession of a thing (possessio), which was susceptible of acquisitive prescription (res habilis), for a length of time prescribed by statute (tempus). Due to Rome’s small territory, the time-limit for acquisitive prescription was a year, for movables, and two years for immovables. In the pre-classical period, Praetors had the greatest impact on Roman law, which led to the emergence of “good faith” and “equitable title” as further premises. Justinian’s reforms lengthened the time-limits for acquisitive prescription on immovables to 10 years, where the litigants lived in the same province, 20 years, if they resided in different provinces, and 3 years in the case of movables.
Acquisitive prescription was among the most basic methods of acquiring ownership. As such, it played an important role in many ways. Even as early as in the 12 Tablets period, the objective of acquisitive prescription was to eliminate complications arising out of a legal title to a thing, in particular where a long-term possessor had no rights to it. A transfer of ownership under acquisitive prescription allowed the possessor to defeat any formal or substantive defects and acquire full quiritary ownership. It was of particular importance that these functions were served in practice. This was because they helped to prevent situations, whose prolonged duration might discourage citizens from trusting the state and, as a result, challenge the stability of the law.
Thanks to the growing importance of international treaties and arbitration, today’s world is marked by a virtual unity in both commercial and political terms, exemplified by the European Union. At the same time, a search is under way for models to forge common solutions. In respect of private law, there is probably no better model for unification than acquisitive prescription, whose framework and operation have been well known for a very long time. This is because acquisitive prescription forms part of the legal heritage of entire mankind, with its different forms present in almost all cultures of the world. To prove my point, I would like to note that, besides mainland Europe and common law countries, acquisitive prescription is also known in South Africa, Japan and China.
An analysis of acquisitive prescription in selected countries with common law, statutory or mixed law points to parallels in its application and operation with Roman law. In countries with statutory law, acquisitive prescription is an institution of substantive law and consists in the acquisition of ownership, which means that it corresponds to the Roman usucapio. On the other hand, in common law countries, it acts as a formal institution to prevent seeking ownership after the lapse of a statutorily prescribed period, in which case it corresponds to longi temporis praescriptio. Mixed law jurisdictions, such as Louisiana or Scotland, also have regulations in place to address acquisitive prescription which in its substance resembles the Roman regulations on usucapio.
To review the regulations of each individual country, it was necessary to take into account two factors, namely the division into acquisitive prescription (praescriptio adquisitiva) and extinctive prescription (praescriptio extinctiva) as well as the division into ordinary and extraordinary acquisitive prescription, including also the fact that in respect of immovables, acquisitive prescription operates in the system of positive or negative registration of real estate titles. These factors determined which countries would be selected for the review. The discussion focused on English law as a representative of common law jurisdiction, with its division into extinctive prescription (praescriptio extinctiva) and acquisitive prescription (praescriptio adquisitiva), even though the impact of Roman law there has been the lowest compared to other European countries, and the USA where the law provides for extinctive prescription and extraordinary acquisitive prescription. Examples of mixed jurisdiction were provided by Scottish law, in which immovables may be acquired under a kind of positive praescriptio, and Louisiana, whose law retains ordinary acquisitive prescription and extraordinary acquisitive prescription, and transposes a number of other provisions on usucapio. The statutory law countries were selected mainly on the basis of similarity to Roman regulations. The selection was made in favour of German law which distinguishes and regulates extinctive prescription and acquisitive prescription along Roman lines by incorporating Roman solutions in respect of acquisitive prescription on movables, while treating acquisitive prescription on immovables in a slightly different manner. The survey also referred to France and Spain. Both of these countries retain the division into praescription extinctiva (extinctive prescription) and adquisitiva (acquisitive prescription). Dutch law was included in the scope of research, partially for its strong links with Roman law, but also thanks to its unique regulations on acquisitive prescription aiming to maximise the certainty of the right of ownership. Finally, the evolution of regulations was also traced in Polish law because of its division into acquisitive prescription and extinctive prescription, which form two separate and mutually independent institutions, as well as because the present authors feels most at home with it.
The analysis of acquisitive prescription, together with its evolution from usus auctoritaris regulated in the 12 Tablets to ordinary acquisitive prescription introduced by Justinian’s legislation, allows observing the legal genius and high legal culture present in Roman society. The successive stages of growth of usucapio form a labyrinth of timeless legal concepts and laboratory for the development of legal institutions. Longi temporis praescriptio underwent a transformation from being a time-bar defence into the acquisitive prescription of quasi-ownership on provincial lands, thus giving proof of the everlasting search for legal solutions which, by seeking to respond to individual cases, frequently resulted in the rise of a new institution. This modification also gave rise to a division into acquisitive prescription and extinctive prescription which is currently applicable in many legal systems nowadays.
Acquisitive prescription, moulded into its final shape by Justinian, shows the revolutionary nature of the reforms culminating in the division of ordinary and extraordinary acquisitive prescription. This final shape, together with the premises, forms the complete picture of acquisitive prescription, adopted by legislators in Europe and all over the world. The main function of acquisitive prescription is to bring de facto circumstances into line with legal facts. This is done wherever acquisitive prescription has been made part of the law and, as such, is not only a desirable but also necessary characteristic of every law-abiding state. The sophisticated systems for registration of ownership rights, currently operating in the modern world, and the laws which exist to govern them have, in a sense, come to act as enforcers of the basic function of acquisitive prescription. Not even this has been sufficient, however, to induce our legislators to abolish this institution, which is even better proof of its phenomenal success.
Although its existence may seem questionable on economic and moral grounds, it appears that it is possible to set optimum time-limits and review the regulations on the acquisitive prescription of movables, in order to make it a successful tool in service of its basic function and assure those involved in any legal affairs that the legislator relies on a tested solution with 2,000 years of history which, even when the best legal safeguards fail, will continue to help bring de facto circumstances into a much-desired compliance with legal records.