-if a movable, by one year's possession,
and by two years' possession if an immovable, though in this case
only if it were in Italian soil;--the reason of the rule being the
inexpediency of allowing ownership to be long unascertained. The
ancients thus considered that the periods mentioned were sufficient to
enable owners to look after their property; but we have arrived at a
better opinion, in order to save people from being overquickly defrauded
of their own, and to prevent the benefit of this institution from being
confined to only a certain part of the empire. We have consequently
published a constitution on the subject, enacting that the period of
usucapion for movables shall be three years, and that ownership of
immovables shall be acquired by long possession--possession, that is to
say, for ten years, if both parties dwell in the same province, and for
twenty years if in different provinces; and things may in these modes
be acquired in full ownership, provided the possession commences on a
lawful ground, not only in Italy but in every land subject to our sway.

1 Some things, however, not withstanding the good faith of the
possessor, and the duration of his possession, cannot be acquired by
usucapion; as is the case, for instance, if one possesses a free man, a
thing sacred or religious, or a runaway slave.

2 Things again of which the owner lost possession by theft, or
possession of which was gained by violence, cannot be acquired by
usucapion, even by a person who has possessed them in good faith for the
specified period: for stolen things are declared incapable of usucapion
by the statute of the Twelve Tables and by the lex Atinia, and things
taken with violence by the lex Iulia et Plautia.

3 The statement that things stolen or violently possessed cannot, by
statute, be acquired by usucapion, means, not that the thief or violent
dispossessor is incapable of usucapion--for these are barred by another
reason, namely the fact that their possession is not in good faith; but
that even a person who has purchased the thing from them in good faith,
or received it on some other lawful ground, is incapable of acquiring by
usucapion. Consequently, in things movable even a person who possesses
in good faith can seldom acquire ownership by usucapion, for he who
sells, or on some other ground delivers possession of a thing belonging
to another, commits a theft.

4 However, this admits of exception; for if an heir, who b