MODERN CIVIL CODES. In the law of real prop erty, the disappearance of feudal tenures and the conversion of peasant holdings either into ordinary leaseholds o• into freeholds has prac tically reestablished the simpler Roman cate gories. Political power has been separated anew from property right, and there is no eminent do main except that of the State. On the other hand. the general introduction of official registra tion of conveyances, mortgages, etc., and the dis position to protect the honest purchaser who re lies upon the public records have greatly modi fied the Roman rules. The registered conveyee or mortgagee is always protected against the holders of unregi.ste•ed titles, and in modern German law there is, properly speaking. no title without registration.
As to movable property, nearly all the Euro pean legislations have accepted the old German rule that homiest possession is good title except against a prior possessor by whom the thing was lost or from whom it was stolen ; and even in the ease of lost or stolen property• the possessor who has purchased the thing "at a fair, in a market, at a public sale, or from a merchant who deals in such articles," is not obliged to surrender it un til the price which he paid for it is refunded. In
the modern German code the rule is somewhat different : purchase in market overt does not pro tect the possessor of lost o• stolen things, but purchase at a public auction gives him an un assailable title. In the German code, also, the honest possessor of money o• of negotiable papers payable to bearer is always owner, and similar. rules are contained in the commercial codes of several other countries. It follows from these rules regarding movable property that no hypoth ecation of such property is recognized, hut only pledge accompanied by possession (gage, Faust gond).
The principle which underlies all these modern rules is that of 'publicity.' Rights which run against all the world must be evident to, or at least ascertainable by, all the world. This end is gained• as regards real property. by registration of titles. As regards movable property the only public evidence of title is possession.