Ownership

Question 1

what are real rights

Answer 1

• rights in things which are enforceable against anyone in the world who interferes with them
• Several real rights were recognised in Roman law, and these have descendants in modern Scotland

Question 2

what can possession be the gateway to

Answer 2

• to the acquisition of ownership
• can ripen into ownership in very specific circumstances

Question 3

What is ownership?

Answer 3

• Ownership isn’t possession
• Bond between person and res
• A necessary basis without which other real rights can’t exist – the ‘sovereign right’

Question 4

What powers does an owner have in principle?

Answer 4

• Power of using the thing
• Power of uplifting the fruits of the thing; all manner of increase produced by property
• Power of disposal of the thing

Question 5

How extensively ownership can be enforced + what is the relevant action

Answer 5

• Ownership is a right in thing, and can be enforced against the world
• Relevant action is the ‘rei vindicatio’ (the vindicatory action)

Question 6

How to describe ownership

Answer 6

Consider how it was established in unowned things and then transferred, before doing this consider possession

Question 7

where did parties in dispute over the ownership of a res go and what occurred

Answer 7

• came before the Praetor, with the res in question
• First stages of legal proceedings were highly ritualized
• culturally, Romans loved ritual and formalism
• Rei Vindicatio involved a ritualized fight over the res