A, dominus, sold and delivered (by traditio) res mancipi to B who sold and delivered it to C from whom it was stolen by D who sold and delivered it to E who bought in good faith - Explain the rights and duties of A,B,C,D and E.

A, dominus, sold and delivered (by traditio) res mancipi to B who sold and delivered it to C from whom it was stolen by D who sold and delivered it to E who bought in good faith. Each of the above transactions took place on consecutive days. Explain the rights and duties of A, B, C, D and E. A (Aulus) is the lord and master of his property, dominus. For Aulus to have dominium, he would have to have commercium - he would have to be a Roman citizen; have property that could be privately owned and could only acquire property through the proper channels. Res mancipi were defined as slaves, beasts of burden, Italic land and rustic praedial servitudes and is the fundamental classification of property in Roman law. This was extremely important in relation to the conveyance of property. When Aulus made delivery - by traditio - of res mancipi, dominium was not automatically transferred but the recipient (in this case, B - Balbus) would be granted bonitary ownership. To comply with this ius gentium mode of acquisition, the delivery had to be made with the appropriate intent, i.e. iusta causa. If Aulus were just to deliver res mancipi, this would not constitute the transfer of res mancipi. As the Digest recounted: - 'Bare delivery of itself never transfers ownership.' Aulus's property could only be transferred by two formal methods - mancipatio and cessio. Mancipatio was the

  • Word count: 802
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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What were the legis actiones? How did they work? Why and when were they abolished?

Civil Law Karen Forbes S0232546 Essay: What were the legis actiones? How did they work? Why and when were they abolished? Tutor Josef Wolff Tutorial: Wednesday 10am What were the legis actiones? How did they work? Why and when were they abolished? The 'legis actiones' are described as the 'actions-at-law'1 or the 'actions in the law'2. The legis actiones were the procedures put in place for a Roman citizen to bring about a form of litigation, or civil procedure. They originated around the time of the Twelve Tables and eventually became obsolete following the introduction of the formulae system. In order to define exactly what the legis actiones were the civil procedure of this time has to be examined. By describing how the legis actiones worked in the three parts of civil procedure, namely the summons, the trial and the execution, a conclusion will be drawn on what exactly the legis actiones were. Following on from this the reasons for their abolition will be discussed. Firstly the summons, as the initial stage of civil procedure will be discussed. It has been stated that "the legis actiones were composed from the Twelve Tables and gave people the power to litigate by themselves"3. However, the first step in any litigation procedure was for the plaintiff to summon the defendant to court. This was generally done publicly and orally in the form of 'in ius vocatio'

  • Word count: 1797
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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