# The Institutes of Gaius 3.1.88-94

Roman Law and Society, The Institutes of Gaius, 3.1.88 to 3.1.94. Latin.

Canonical: https://interlinea.aeterna-institute.org/library/latin/roman-law-and-society/the-institutes-of-gaius/3.1.88

(80) Moreover, the ownership of property under prætorian possession, or of the property of a debtor which is sold, is not absolute, but only provisional. Ownership under quiritarian right is only acquired by usucaption. Sometimes, however, it happens that ownership by usucaption can not be acquired by purchasers of the property of a debtor, for example, when an alien is the purchaser. . . . . [1] (81) Again, debts due to, or by the party from whom property is obtained, are not owed to, or by the prætorian possessor, or the purchaser of the property of the debtor; but can be collected by means of equitable actions, which we will explain in a subsequent Commentary. (82) There are successions of other kinds which were not established by the Law of the Twelve Tables or by the Edict of the Prætor, but have been adopted by common consent. (83) For when the head of a household gives himself in adoption, or a woman places herself in the hand of another, all their property, incorporeal and corporeal, as well as all debts due to them, are acquired by the adoptive father, or the purchaser, with the exception of those that are extinguished by the forfeiture of civil rights; as, for instance, usufructs, the obligation of the services of freedmen which is contracted by oath, and claims in legal actions where issue has been joined. (84) On the other hand, any debt owed by the party who gave himself in adoption, or who came into the hand of another, does not [1] Original manuscript illegible. pass to the purchaser or to the adoptive father, unless the indebtedness was hereditary; for then, because the adoptive father or the purchaser becomes the heir, they are directly liable; but he who gave himself in adoption, and the woman who came into the hand of another, cease to be heirs. But if the persons referred to are indebted in their own names, although neither the adoptive father nor the purchaser becomes liable, nor does he who gave himself in adoption, nor the woman who came into the hand of another remain bound, for the reason that they are released from liability by their loss of civil rights; still an equitable action is granted against both, on the ground that their forfeiture of civil rights has been rescinded, and if no defence is made to this action, the Prætor will permit all the property to be sold by the creditors which would have belonged to them, if they had not been subjected to the authority of another.

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Roman Law and Society, The Institutes of Gaius. Text: The Latin Library (thelatinlibrary.com), used with permission. Changes: HTML markup removed and the text divided into reading sections by Interlinea.
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