Neratius, Parchments, Book V. If I directed you to purchase for me a tract of land in which you have a share, it is true that, in compliance with this mandate, you are also required to deliver me your share, after the remaining shares have been purchased. If, however, I should direct you to purchase the said shares at a certain price, and you have bought some of them at any price whatsoever, your share of the proceeds will be subject to diminution, so that the total amount will not exceed that for which I directed the property to be purchased. But if I directed you to make the purchase without fixing any price, and you buy the shares of the other parties at different prices, you should also sell your shares for a sum which would be approved by the judgment of a good citizen.

Neratius, Parchments, Book V. Where it is stated in the contract for the sale of land that if the price is not paid within a certain time, the property will not be considered sold; it must be understood to be the intention that the purchaser shall, in the meantime, be entitled to the crops of said land, but if it is restored to the vendor, Aristo is of the opinion that an action for the recovery of the crops should be granted to him against the purchaser, because nothing derived from the property should remain in the hands of the party who has not complied with his contract.

Neratius, Parchments, Book V. Error in law should not, in every instance, be considered to correspond with ignorance of the fact; since the law can, and should be definitely settled, but the interpretation of the fact very frequently deceives even the wisest men.

Ad Dig. 24,1,44Windscheid: Lehrbuch des Pandektenrechts, 7. Aufl. 1891, Bd. II, § 365, Note 5.Neratius, Parchments, Book V. Where a stranger gives property belonging to a husband to the wife of the latter, both of them being ignorant of this fact, and where the husband also does not know that he has donated property belonging to himself, the woman can lawfully acquire said property by usucaption. The same rule of law will apply where anyone who is under the control of the husband, believing himself to be independent, makes a gift to his father’s wife. If, however, the husband should ascertain that the property was his before its title by usucaption vests, he can recover it, and her possession will be interrupted; even though the husband does not wish for this to be done, and the woman becomes aware that it is his; because this is an instance where the woman herself knows that the donation was made by her husband. It is more proper to hold that no impediment to the acquisition of the ownership of the property by her exists; for women are not absolutely prohibited from acquiring the property of their husbands, except where donations are made to them by the latter.

Ad Dig. 30,124Windscheid: Lehrbuch des Pandektenrechts, 7. Aufl. 1891, Bd. III, § 626, Note 11.Neratius, Parchments, Book V. If heirs who are expressly mentioned are charged with the delivery of property, it is more reasonable to suppose that they are charged with equal portions, because the enumeration of the persons has the effect to make them all equally liable for the payment of the legacy, for, if they had not been expressly mentioned, they would be liable only for their respective shares in the estate.

The Same, Parchments, Book V. Whatever anyone builds upon the shore of the sea will belong to him; for the shores of the sea are not public like the property which forms part of the patrimony of the people, but resembles that which was formed in the first place by Nature, and has not yet been subjected to the ownership of anyone. For their condition is not dissimilar to that of fish and wild animals, which, as soon as they are taken, undoubtedly become the property of him under whose control they have been brought. 1Where a building which has been erected upon the seashore is removed, it should be considered what the condition of the ground on which it was situated is, that is to say whether it will remain the property of him to whom the building belonged, or whether it will revert to its former condition and again become public; just as if it had never been built upon. The latter should be deemed the better opinion, provided it remains in its former condition as a part of the shore.

Neratius, Parchments, Book V. The usucaption of property which we have obtained for other reasons than because we think that we are entitled to it as our own has been established in order to put an end to litigation. 1A person can acquire by usucaption the property of which he has possession, thinking that it belongs to him; even if this opinion is false. This, however, should be understood to mean that a plausible error of the party in possession does not interfere with his right to usucaption; for instance, if I possess some article because I erroneously think that my slave, or the slave of someone whom I have succeeded as heir at law, purchased it, as ignorance of the act of another is an excusable mistake.

Neratius, Parchments, Book III. A father, against whose son an injury has been committed, should not be prevented from bringing suit for his own injury and that of his son, by two different proceedings.