Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

idea for a couple of reasons. First, it can be a partial stand-in for ownership. That is, all other things being equal, the original possessor of an item is more likely to be the true owner than a later one, and the order of possession is likely to be a lot easier to prove. Second, even if possession does not always line up with ownership, protecting the former can help limit antisocial behavior. You don’t, for instance, want people using force to recover anything to which they believe they have title (no mat ter how sincere that belief), since either party, or even innocent bystanders, could be permanently harmed. Protecting posses sion encourages the resolution of property disputes through proper legal procedure. An interdict was essentially a conditional order. For instance: With whichever person the slave at issue in this case lived for the greater part of the past year (as long as he was not there by stealth, force, or permission), I forbid force to be used to prevent that person from taking him back [the so-called interdict utrubi , named after its first word in Latin].

or

From which place you (or your slaves or your manager) ejected that man (or his slaves or his manager) by force within the year, although he was in possession (as long as that was not by force, stealth, or permission), you must restore him to that place [the interdict unde vi ].

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