Acquisition of ownership to the object of purchase in the classical period of Roman law

Abstract

The paper is focused on a critical analysis of the selected Roman law texts of Justinian’s Digest containing the legislation of acquisition of ownership to the object of purchase. Certain fragments made the issue of the transfer of ownership to the object of purchase conditional upon the moment of its delivery, although the purchase price has not yet been paid. According to others, the transfer of ownership depended on the payment of the purchase price, although the item has been handed over before. According to other fragments, the moment of the transfer of ownership to the object of purchase depended on providing the guarantee to a seller that the purchase price would be paid to him. Using the interpolation method, the author points out that the differences of legislation in Roman law sources are only apparent and that the issue of acquiring ownership to the object of purchase in the classical period of Roman law was related to the division of items into res mancipi and res nec mancipi. This division was abolished by Emperor Justinian in the 6th century A.D. and he introduced a new legislation.