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9. USUCAPION ON THE GROUND OF DOWRY
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BOOK FORTY-ONEIUSUCAPION FOR ONESELF USUCAPION ON THE GROUND OF DOWRY 1 ULPIAN,Sabinus, book 31: A most fitting title to usucapion is that styled "on the ground of dowry" whereby one who receives a thing by way of dowry can usucapt over the fixed period over which men usucapt as purchasers. 1. It matters not whether individual things or a collectivity of them be given in dowry. 2. Now we will first consider the time from which a person may usucapt on the ground of dowry after the marriage or even before it takes place. A common question is whether a fiance (that is, one not yet married) can usucapt a thing on the ground of dowry. Julian says that if the future bride delivers a thing to her fiance with the intention that it shall not become his until the nuptials follow, usucapion will not begin; and if it be not clear what was intended, says Julian, it should be held that the intention was that the things should become the man's forthwith so that, if they belong to a third party, they can be usucapted ; this to me is the more plausible view. But before the marriage, he will usucapt as his own not on the ground of dowry. 3. While the marriage subsists, there will be usucapion on the ground of dowry between the married parties; if, though, the marriage ends, Cassius says that usucapion will cease because there is now no dowry. 4. The same jurist writes that, equally, if a man thought himself married, when there was in fact no marriage, he could not usucapt because there would be no dowry. There is reason in this view. 2 PAUL,Edict, book 54: If a thing be delivered at a valuation before the marriage, it is, until the marriage, not usucapted either on the ground of purchase or on that of dowry. 3 SCAEVOLA, Digest, book 25: Two daughters were the heiresses of their intestate father, and they gave in dowry slaves whom they owned in common; then, some years after the father's death, an action was brought between the daughters to divide the inheritance. The question was whether their husbands, having possessed for several years as dotal the slaves whom they received in good faith, could be seen to have usucapted them, assuming that on receipt of them, they believed that they were the property of the wife delivering them. The reply was that nothing had been advanced to show why they should not have usucapted. USUCAPION FOR ONESELF 1 ULPIAN,Edict, book 15: This is the nature of possession for oneself; when we believe that we have acquired ownership of a thing, we possess it both on the ground of acquisition and for ourselves; for instance, on the ground of purchase, I possess both as purchaser and for myself, and similarly, I possess a thing given or bequeathed to me both on the ground of gift or legacy and for myself. 1. But if a thing be delivered to me on a lawful ground, say purchase and I usucapt it, I begin to possess it for myself even before usucapion. Whether, after usucapion, I cease to do so as purchaser is a matter of uncertainty; Maurician is reported as holding that I do not. 2 PAUL,Edict, book 54: There is a type of possession styled "for oneself." By this title, we possess all that we catch by land, sea, or in the air, and what becomes ours through the alluvion of rivers. Similarly, we possess by this title the offspring which we possess of another's property, for instance, the child of an inherited or purchased slave-woman, so also the produce of a thing bought or received by way of gift, or which is found in an inheritance. 3 POMPONIUS, Sabinus, book 22: You delivered to me a slave whom, erroneously, you thought that you owed me on a stipulation; if I know that nothing is due to me, I will BOOK FORTY-ONE/USUCAPION FOR ONESELF 9 USUCAPION ON THE GROUND OF DOWRY 47 1 ULPIAN, Sabinus, book 31: A most fitting title to usucapion is that styled "on the ground of dowry" whereby one who receives a thing by way of dowry can usucapt over the fixed period over which men usucapt as purchasers. 1. It matters not whether individual things or a collectivity of them be given in dowry. 2. Now we will first consider the...