Usucapio pro herede w „Instytucjach” Gaiusa
Usucapion as Heir in the “Institutes” of Gaius

Summary/Abstract: Roman legal sources that relate to usucapion as heir (usucapio pro herede) are not numerous. We find only a relevant fragment of the second commentary of the Gaius’ Institutiones and a short title Pro herede vel pro possessore in the 41st book of the Justinian’s Digesta. The paper focuses on the exegesis of the first of the sources. By the institution of usucapion as heir anybody who possessed any goods of an inheritance could acquire the inheritance within a year. Therefore, the main purpose of the institution seemed to be determining who was going to be responsible for continuing the domestic worship (sacra familiaria). When the sacra had lost their social significance, usucapio pro herede changed its object – the goods that belonged to an inheritance, not the inheritance as such. In classical Roman law, usucapion as heir started to be considered wicked and reprobate legal institution. The emperor Hadrian marginalized usucapio pro herede through a decree of the senate sponsored by him. The senatus consultum made usucapion reversible for the actual heir. Emperor Marcus Aurelius introduced a new crime – crimen expilatae hereditatis, which consisted in overtaking goods that belonged to a someone else’s inheritance. Yet, usucapio pro herede was never abolished by a legal act.

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