In the Roman law, as known to us in the Digest, Usucapio appears as a mode of acquisition which must have been owing to the circumstance of Mancipatio going out of use : for bare tradition in all cases, followed by the proper uses, gave complete ownership. Finally, when the difference between Res Mancipi and Nec Mancipi was abolished, Usucapio in its original sense ceased. But as in the time of Gains we find Usucapio appli cable to the ease of things Nec Mancipi, which a person had possessed bond fide, this rule of law still continued, and va rious limitations were in course of time established as to the mode of acquiring the ownership of a thing by the enjoy ment of it. Thus Justinian, in his In stitutes' (ii. tit. 6), after reciting the old law, refers to one of his Constitutions (Cod. 7, tit. 31), by which the ownership of moveables might be acquired by use (usucapiantur), provided there was a bona fide possession (junta cause posses siouispraecedente) for three years, and that of immoveable things by the " longi temporis possessio," which he explains to be ten years "inter praesentes," and twenty years "inter absentes :" and the Constitution applied to the whole empire. Usucapio is defined in the Digest ' (41, fit. 3, s. 3) to be the " addition of owner ship by the uninterrupted possession for a time fixed by law." As it was the addi tion of ownership, something is here im plied to which this addition was to be made ; and this something was a bond fide possession, that is, a possession obtained in a legal way, so that the possessor be lieved himself to be owner. To render possession effectual, it must be uninter rupted legal possession. An interruption
of possession was called Usurpatio. If the possession commenced bong fide, it was not interrupted in the person of the pos sessor's successor, but it was continued. The Romans did not use the term Prae scriptio simply to express the title by Ususcapio obtained under the legislation of Justinian ; but the expression was " longi temporis praescriptio." There was also an extraordinary prtescriptio, or title by possession, of thirty or forty years, which was allowed in certain cases in which the general conditions of praescrip tion had been complied with, but which for certain other reasons were excluded from the shorter praescription. There was also the praescription of time imme morial.
The Prescription of the English law is not exactly the Prescription of the Ro man law. The Statutes of Limitation bear a nearer resemblance to the Pre scription of the compilations of Jus tinian, but there are differences here also : Roman Prescription gave a title to the things ; the Statutes of Limitation bar the claims of persons who have been out of possession for certain de fined periods. The Scotch Prescription has a nearer resemblance to the Prae scriptio longi temporis of the Roman law.— [PRESCRIPTION ; STATUTES OF LIMITATION.] The subject of Usucapio admits and requires a much more complete exposi tion. The reader may refer to the follow ing works :—Engelbach, Ueber die Umt eapion zur zeit der zwtilf Tafein, Mar burg, 1828; Mahlenbruch, Doctrine Pandectarum ; Mackeldey, Lehrbuch des Heutigen Rtim. Rechts, where numerous authorities are referred to.