Introduction

Original acquisition is the acquisition of ownership without acquiring it from a previous owner. The acquirer acquires a new right in the property, rather than acquiring any previous owner's right.^[1194] Normally it is carried out by the acquirer’s own act.

It should be said at the outset that the natural law modes of original acquisition are all closely related to each other, and the texts do not always clearly distinguish between them. Indeed, the very terminology used to identify them is largely non­Roman, being instead medieval. Four modes in particular cause difficulty:

• accession, the attachment of two things in circumstances where one can be described as accessory to the other;

• specificatio, where materials are used to create a new thing;

• commixtio, where two or more things are mixed together, in circumstances where they can be separated;

• confusio, where two or more things are mixed together, in circumstances where they cannot be separated.

This chapter will distinguish between these, but the reader should be aware that a Roman lawyer would be unlikely to recognise such a clear-cut distinction.^[1196]

We will begin, though, by considering occupatio, the acquisition of ownerless things by taking possession of them.

B.