The Same, Digest, Book XLIV. If you purchase the property of another in good faith, and give it to me in pledge, and request its return to be held by sufferance; and then the owner of said property appoints me his heir, it ceases to be a pledge, and merely the claim by sufferance will survive; and therefore your usucaption will be interrupted.

The Same, Digest, Book XLIV. Possession of property is not acquired for a creditor by a slave who has been given in pledge, for the reason that neither by stipulation nor by mandate, nor in any other way whatsoever, can anything be acquired by him, even though he may have possession of the slave. 1If one of several masters gives money to a slave owned in common, it is in the power of the master to bestow the money upon the said slave held in common in whatever way he may desire; for if he should only do this in order to deduct it from his accounts, and let it form part of the peculium of the slave, it will still remain the property of the said master. If, however, he should give the money to the slave held in common, in the same way that we are accustomed to make donations to the slaves of others, it will become the common property of the joint-owners in proportion to the share which each one has in the slave. 2However, in order that the following question may be considered, let us suppose that one joint-owner has given a sum of money to a slave owned in common, in order to retain his ownership of the property; and if the slave should purchase a tract of land with the said money, it will be owned in common by the joint proprietors in proportion to the share which each one has in the slave; for, even if the common slave bought the tract of land with stolen money, it will become the property of the joint-owners, according to their interest in the slave. A slave in whom someone has an usufruct does not acquire property for his owner by reason of the usufruct; nor can a slave held in common acquire property for one master by means of that belonging to another. But, just as property is acquired from others under these circumstances, the condition of a slave subject to an usufruct differs from that of a slave owned in common (for instance, one of them does not acquire property for the usufructuary, but the other acquires it for his masters), as where anything is obtained by making use of the property of the usufructuary it will belong to him alone, but what a slave owned in common acquires by means of the property of one master will belong to both. 3As a slave owned in common, by expressly stipulating for one of his masters, acquires property for him alone, so also he acquires property solely for him through receiving it by delivery. 4When a slave belonging to one person receives property by delivery, alleging that he receives it for his master, and Titius, he acquires half of it for his master, but his act with reference to the other half is void. 5If a slave, subject to usufruct, should say that he received property acquired through the usufruct by delivery, for his owner, he will acquire all of it for him; for if he enters into a stipulation with reference to property belonging to the usufruct, he will acquire it for his owner. 6Ad Dig. 41,1,37,6Windscheid: Lehrbuch des Pandektenrechts, 7. Aufl. 1891, Bd. I, § 155, Note 7.If you wish to make me a donation, and I direct you to deliver the property to a slave jointly owned by Titius and myself, and the slave receives it with the intention of obtaining it for Titius, the transaction will be void; or if you deliver property to my agent with the intention that it shall become mine, and he receives it with the intention of making it his, this transaction will also be void. If a slave owned in common receives property with the intention of acquiring it for both his masters, the transaction, so far as one of them is concerned, will be of no force or effect.

Julianus, Digest, Book XLIV. A master who writes to his absent slave to remain at liberty has not the intention of immediately relinquishing possession of the slave; but his intention is rather deferred until the time when the slave will be informed of the fact. 1When anyone delivers possession of land in such a way that he does not intend it to be given us, unless the land belongs to him, he is not considered to have delivered possession if the land is the property of another. It should, moreover, be understood that possession can be delivered conditionally, just as property is transferred under a condition and does not pass to the person who receives it unless the condition is complied with. 2Where a man who sold a slave to Titius delivers him to his heir, the latter can obtain possession of the estate by means of the slave; not for the reason that the slave came into his hands from the estate, but because he is entitled to an action on purchase. For if a slave is due to a testator in accordance with the terms of a stipulation, or of a will, and the heir receives him, he will not be forbidden to obtain possession of the property of the estate by means of the slave.

Julianus, Digest, Book XLIV. Not only bona fide purchasers, but also all those who have possession under any title by which usucaption is ordinarily acquired, can obtain as their own the child of a female slave; and I think that this rule has been legally established. For, in every instance, anyone can acquire a female slave by usucaption, unless it is prohibited by the Law of the Twelve Tables, or the Atinian Law. The child of such a slave can be acquired by usucaption, if it was conceived and brought forth at a time when the alleged possessor did not know that its mother had been stolen. 1The common opinion that a person himself cannot change the title of his possession is only correct where he knows that he is not a possessor in good faith, and obtains it for the purpose of profit. This can be proved as follows: If anyone purchases a tract of land from another, knowing that it does not belong to the latter, he will hold it as the possessor; but if he purchases the same land from the owner, he will possess it as the purchaser; nor will he himself be considered to have changed the title to his possession. The same rule will apply even if he did not purchase the land from the owner, if he believed it to be his. In like manner, if he was appointed heir by the owner, or obtained prætorian possession of his estate, he will possess the land as the heir. Further, if he had good reason to think that he was the heir, or was entitled to prætorian possession of the estate, he will possess the land as the heir, and will not be held to have himself changed the title to possession. As this rule must be adopted with reference to him who has possession, how much more is it applicable to the case of a tenant, who has no possession either during the lifetime, or after the death of the owner of the land? And, indeed, if the tenant, at the time of the death of the owner, purchased the land from him whom he believed to be the heir of the former, or the possessor of his estate under the Prætorian Edict, he will begin to hold the property as a purchaser. 2If the owner of land thinks that armed men are coming, and, for this reason, takes to flight, he will be considered to have been forcibly dispossessed, even though none of them should enter upon the land. Still, the same land can be acquired by usucaption by a bona fide possessor, even before it again comes under the control of the owner, because the Lex Plautia et Julia forbids property which has been taken possession of by force to be acquired by long possession, but not by those who have been driven from it by violence. 3If Titius gives me possession of land which I had the intention of bringing suit to recover from him, I shall have good ground for usucaption. But if he from whom I had the intention of demanding a tract of land on account of a stipulation grants me possession of the same, and does so for the purpose of discharging his indebtedness, he places me in such a position that I can obtain the land by prescription. 4Anyone who gives property in pledge can acquire it by usucaption as long as it remains in the hands of his creditor, but if the creditor should transfer his possession to another, the usucaption will be interrupted. And, so far as the usucaption is concerned, the case is similar to that of a person who deposited, or lent an article; for it is clear that he ceases to acquire it by usucaption, if the article which was lent or deposited should be delivered to a third party by him who received it as a loan, or a deposit. It is evident if the creditor hypothecated it by a mere agreement, the debtor will continue to acquire it by usucaption. 5If I possess in good faith property which belongs to you, and pledge it to you, you not being aware that it was yours, I cease to acquire it by usucaption, because no one is understood to hold his own property in pledge. If, however, it should be pledged by a mere agreement, I will still continue to acquire it by usucaption, because in this way the property is not considered to have been pledged. 6If a slave should steal property which has been pledged to his master, as the creditor still continues to be in possession of it, the usucaption of the debtor will not be interrupted, because a slave does not deprive his master of possession. But if a slave of the debtor should steal the property, although the creditor ceases to have possession of the same, the usucaption of the debtor will remain the same as if the creditor had delivered the property to the debtor. For so far as usucaption is concerned, slaves do not injure the conditions of their owners by the theft of property. The question will be more easily decided if the slave of a debtor, having precarious possession, steals the property; for if it should be hired, the result will be the same as if it had remained in the hands of the creditor, since, in this instance, the creditor has possession of it. If, however, both titles existed, that is to say, one that is precarious, and another based upon the hiring, the creditor is understood to hold possession, for the claim under a precarious title is not, in this instance, introduced to enable the debtor to have possession, but only to permit him to retain the property.

Julianus, Digest, Book XLIV. A certain person who possessed a tract of land, as purchaser, died before the time had elapsed for acquiring the land by usucaption, and the slaves who had been left in possession of the property departed with the intention of abandoning it. The question arose whether the time of long possession would, nevertheless, continue to benefit the heir. The answer was, that even if the slaves did leave, the heir could profit by the time. 1If I obtain the Cornelian Estate, as purchaser, by virtue of long-continued possession, and I add to it a part of some adjoining land, can I also obtain this portion as purchaser during the remaining time necessary for prescription; or can I acquire it by usucaption during the time prescribed by law? I gave it as my opinion that the adjacent land, which was added to that already purchased, has its own peculiar and distinct condition, and therefore that possession of both tracts must be separately obtained, and must be acquired by long possession in accordance with the time prescribed by law. 2My slave directed Titius to purchase a tract of land for him, and Titius transferred the possession of the same to the slave after his manumission. The question arose whether he could obtain it by long possession. The answer was, that if my slave had directed Titius to purchase the land, and Titius had delivered it to him after his manumission, whether he believed that the slave’s peculium had been given to him, or did not know that it had not, the slave could, nevertheless, obtain the land by long-continued possession, because he either knew that his peculium had been given him, or he ought to have known it, and hence he resembles one who pretends to be a creditor. If, however, Titius knew that his peculium had not been given to the slave, he should be understood to have rather bestowed the land as a donation than, to have relinquished it for the discharge of a debt which was not due. 3If a guardian should steal the property of his ward and sell it, usucaption will not take place before it has been again placed under the control of the ward; for the guardian is only considered to occupy the place of the owner with reference to the property of his ward when he is administering the affairs of the guardianship, and not when he is despoiling his ward. 4Where anyone in good faith purchases land belonging to another and loses possession of the same, and afterwards, when he recovers it, ascertains that it belongs to someone else, he cannot acquire it by lapse of time, for the reason that the beginning of the second possession is defective. Nor does he resemble one who, at the time of the purchase, believed the land to belong to the vendor, but when it was delivered, knew that it belonged to someone else; for, when possession has once been lost, the beginning of the recovered possession must again be taken into consideration. Therefore, if a slave is returned at a time when the purchaser was aware that he belonged to another, usucaption will not take place; even though before he sold him he was in such a position that he could acquire him by usucaption. The same rule applies to one who has been ejected from land, and, knowing that it belonged to another, recovers possession of it by means of an interdict. 5Anyone who knowingly purchases from one whom the Prætor has forbidden to dispose of the property of an estate, on account of his being suspected of not being the heir, cannot acquire it by usucaption. 6If your agent sells a tract of land for only thirty aurei which he could have sold for a hundred, in order to cause you injury, and the ipurchaser is not aware of the fact, there is no doubt that the latter can acquire the land by long-continued possession; for even where anyone knowingly sells land belonging to another to one who is not aware that this is the case, long-continued possession is not interrupted. If, however, the purchaser should be in collusion with the agent, and, for the sake of a reward, corruptly induces him to sell the property for less than it was worth, the purchaser will not be understood to have acted in good faith, and he cannot acquire the land by prescription. If he avails himself of an exception on the ground that the land was sold with the consent of the owner, and the latter brings an action to recover it, the owner can avail himself of a reply based on fraud. 7Stolen property is not understood to be again brought under the control of the owner, even if he regains possession of the same, if he does not know that it has been stolen from him. Therefore, if I should give in pledge a slave who has been stolen from you, and you are not aware that he is yours, and, after payment of the debt, I should sell him to Titius, Titius cannot acquire him by usucaption. 8A freeman who is serving us in good faith as a slave, while managing our property, can acquire other property for us in the same way in which we are accustomed to acquire it by means of our own slaves. Hence, as we obtain the ownership of property either by delivery or by usucaption through the intervention of a person who is free, so, if a contract for a sale is entered into by means of the peculium of a slave, to which we are entitled, we can acquire the property by usucaption, even if we are not aware that the purchase has been made.

Julianus, Digest, Book XLIV. When anyone is placed in possession of an estate for the preservation of a legacy, he does not interrupt the possession of him who acquires by usucaption as heir, for he holds the property for safe-keeping. What then results? He will retain the property by the right of pledge, even after the time required for usucaption has elapsed, and he will not relinquish it until his legacy has been paid to him, or his claim to it has been satisfied. 1The common opinion that no one can change the title of his own possession must be understood to apply, not only to civil, but also to natural possession. Therefore, it has been held that neither a tenant, nor anyone with whom property has been deposited, or lent, can, as heir, acquire it by usucaption, for the purpose of profiting by it. 2Servius denies that a son can, in the capacity of heir, acquire by usucaption property which has been given to him by his father; for he held that natural possession of it was in the hands of the son during the lifetime of his father. The result of this is that, where a son has been appointed heir by his father, he cannot acquire by usucaption any portion of the estate given to him by the former so far as this may affect the shares of his co-heirs.