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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §8.1.14.pr-8.1.14.2

Inadmissibility of Usucapion and Intervening Lands

Passage 1362 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus explains that servitudes cannot be acquired by usucapion because they are incorporeal and lack continuous possession, discusses the release and acquisition of a right of way to a tomb, and details the rules for establishing servitudes when public, sacred, or religious places intervene.

[PAULUS libro quinto decimo ad Sabinum. ] §8.1.14.prSeruitutes praediorum rusticorum etiamsi corporibus accedunt, incorporales tamen sunt et ideo usu non capiuntur: uel ideo, quia tales sunt seruitutes, ut non habeant certam continuamque possessionem: nemo enim tam perpetuo, tam continenter ire potest, ut nullo momento possessio eius interpellari uideatur.
[PAULUS in the fifteenth book on Sabinus.] Servitudes of rustic estates, even if they attach to physical objects, are nevertheless incorporeal and therefore cannot be acquired by usucapion; or for this reason, because servitudes are of such a nature that they do not have a certain and continuous possession; for no one can walk so perpetually and so continuously that at no moment does his possession seem to be interrupted.
idem et in seruitutibus praediorum urbanorum obseruatur.
The same is observed also in the case of servitudes of urban estates.
§8.1.14.1Seruitus itineris ad sepulchrum priuati iuris manet et ideo remitti domino fundi seruientis potest: et adquiri etiam post religionem sepulchri haec seruitus potest.
A servitude of way to a tomb remains subject to private law, and therefore can be released to the owner of the serving estate; and this servitude can also be acquired after the tomb has become religious.
§8.1.14.2Publico loco interueniente uel uia publica haustus seruitus imponi pofest, aquae ductus non potest: a principe autem peti solet, ut per uiam publicam aquam ducere sine incommodo publico liceat.
If a public place or a public road intervenes, a servitude of drawing water can be imposed, but a servitude of conducting water cannot; however, it is customary to petition the emperor that it be permitted to conduct water through a public road without public inconvenience.
sacri et religiosi loci interuentus etiam itineris seruitutem impedit, cum seruitus per ea loca nulli deberi potest.
The intervention of a sacred or religious place also impedes a servitude of way, since a servitude through those places cannot be owed to anyone.

Notes

  1. §8.1.14.prusu non capiuntur — A passive expression of the verb phrase usucapere (to acquire by usucapion). It indicates the classical Roman law principle that incorporeal things (res incorporales) such as servitudes are not subject to acquisition by prescription.
  2. §8.1.14.1remitti — Meaning 'to be released' or 'to be remitted'. It refers to the act by which the holder of the servitude releases the owner of the serving estate (dominus fundi seruientis) from the obligation, thereby extinguishing or waiving the servitude.
  3. §8.1.14.2cum seruitus per ea loca nulli deberi potest — Although it is a causal cum-clause, the indicative present 'potest' is used instead of the subjunctive. This is to strongly present the objective fact or truth that a servitude through sacred or religious places 'cannot be owed to anyone' due to its inherent legal impossibility.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §8.1.14.pr-8.1.14.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:8.1.14.pr-8.1.14.2

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