The Twelve Tables
Table #6Transfer
Transfer, by sale or otherwise, is the other principal way of acquiring property. This Table includes other rules for acquisition and possession.
6:01a. When a party shall make bond or conveyance, according as he has named by word of mouth, so shall the right be.
An oral contract, whether a promise or a word of conveyance, will stand.
6:01c. Articles which have been sold and handed over are not acquired by a buyer otherwise than when he has paid the price to the seller, or has satisfied him in some other way, that is, by providing a guarantor or a security.
The balancing provision: the sale is not complete until the seller, whether or not in possession, has met the agreed terms. [For Warmington's 6:01b/d, see in Table 8].6:02. It is sufficient to make good such faults as had been named by word of mouth, and for any flaws which the vendor has expressly denied, he shall undergo the penalty of double damages.
Express warranty; possibly a later provision.6:03. Acquisition by possession [usucapio] of movable things requires one year's possession for its completion, but for an estate and buildings, two years.
Real and movable property are distinguished as to their acquisition by possession and use, and real property is given greater protection against unjustified possession and use.
6:04. A woman becomes subject to husband's "hand by enjoyment" when she has lived with him as his wife for one year; any woman who does not wish to be subjected in this manner shall be absent for three nights in succession every year.
The point, as Gaius remarks, is to interrupt the qualifying year, and start the clock again. Note that the term of qualification is that for objects, not the longer term for land.6:05a. Personal seizure [of disputed property] is done directly on the thing or in the place in question, in the presence of the magistrate.
This is a summary by Gellius, who wrongly calls the magistrate a praetor; in the time of the Tables it would have been a consul. Another oral procedure, with the disputants and the magistrate present, with the thing, or at the place, in dispute. [There is no 6:05b clause; for 6:06, see Table 8]]
6:07-09. No person shall dislodge from the framework a [stolen] beam which has been fixed in a building or in a vineyard until the vines are pruned, but shall pay double damages.
Here, repossession would cause damage to the wrongful possessor. In a vineyard, a beam would be used to support the vine trellis. An alternative to repossession is proper in such cases.
Form. As in previous Tables, we have [when laws governing slaves are relocated] three pairs and one odd law; the latter coming second in the sequence.
History. If 6:02 was indeed later, as its formal position perhaps suggests, then we may regard it as a further refinement of the doctrine of sale: the idea of fitness for use.
22 Feb 2006 / Contact The Project / Exit to Twelve Tables Page
