Original Acquisition (Roman)

Original Acquisition is the less common method of aquiring ownership of an item (as compared to Derivative Acquisition (Roman)). Some of the specific methods of acquiring original ownership are extremely rare.

Occupatio
Occupatio allows a possessor to become the owner of an otherwise unowned thing (either never owned, abandoned, or in the case of wild animals when they return to the wild).

Detention itself is not enough, the prospective owner must intend to become the possessor/owner; burning a deceased animal being one example of non-possession.

Accessio
Accession occurs where two items "mingle" (usually by accident but faith is irrelevant) and becomes a new item.

For example, take extending a table with another person's wood. The identity of the wood is destroyed, and accedes to the table. The owner of the improved table is the original table's owner.

To determine the owner, look to see which items "identity' is extinguished - Wood accedes to table, Stone accedes to Ring.

This can produce some interesting results... Words written accede to Paper (even if written in gold), but canvas accedes to painting.

Plantatio
Plantatio is a form of Accessio that specifically deals with plant. When a seed takes root it accedes to the land.

Inaedificatio
Inaedificatio deals with accession of buildings. Building materials accede to the building, and buildings in turn accede to land.

However, if using another's materials, they accede to the building only as long as the building remains in tact. The materials remain owned by their owner, and can be reclaimed if the building is demolished.

Equally, if you build a building on anothers land, the building accedes to the landowner, but the materials continue to be owned by their owner, and can be reclaimed if demolished.

Remedies for the losing party
Although one person loses ownership of their now destroyed item, they can look to theft as a remedy if the item was taken without their consent.

Where a good faith possessor believes themselves to be the other of the "destroyed" item, when it was actually owned by the person who's property it accedes to, they can use the "Defence of Fraud" to reclaim the value of their materials.

Confusion and Commixtion
Like Accessio these deal with situations where items "mingle", unlike Accession, their identies aren't destroyed.

In a Confusion, the items are not seperatable, but in a commixtion they are separable. Neither item is subordinate to the other, they are equals.

Examples of Commixtion include flocks of sheep mingling or two bags of the same item getting mixed together.

In a comixtion, the owner of the items do not change. Each previous owner still owns the specific items they own in the mix. In practical terms, working out who's bean is who's, or who's sheep is who's might be impossible, so the two owners will instead split the total in proportion to their share.

Confusion might be a mix of wine. The wine cannot be separated into pieces, so both will share the total.

Specificatio
In a specificatio, the item's identity is completely brand new. Jurists debated as to whom the owner is

Usucapation
Uscucaption allows a possessor to gain ownership of an item after possessing it for a long time. 2 years for immovable property (land, etc), and 1 year for all other property.

The would be owner must believe he is in the owner in good faith at the time he took possession (he can have doubts later), and must have come into possession in a way that leads him to believe he's the owner. He must have also have had possession all the time

The item must never be stolen, or acquired with violence since leaving its previous owner.

A publican action can also correct a failed a failed delivery by allowing the usual time limits to be bypassed.