THE PROTECTION OF POSSESSION IN THE ROMAN LAW

Abstract

We first encountered the possession as a legal institute in the Roman law. The aim of this paper is to expose the Roman law concept of the statehood and all the issues related to that institute with special emphasis put on its protection. Generally viewed, the possession is seen as a genuinely recognized factual authority over things. However, for centuries, this legal institute has tried to provide answers and solutions to controversial issues either derived from or related to this institute. The possession, as a legal institute, cannot be said to be simple. There are a number of reasons that justify its research because the whole range of legal actions is tied to the state. The first association with the possession is that it is a factual authority on things. However, such an authority is completely independent from the right to things, which gives the state a specificity of a particular weight. It is a common opinion among lawyers that there are three issues regarding the possession worth considering: the concept, the legal nature and the reasons for the possession (possessory) protection. The aim of this paper is to expose the legal protection of the possession and the ways in which it was done in the ancient Rome.

The Roman law provided the protection of the possession through praetorian interdicts, the brief praetorian orders for something to be or not to be done, which were issued in order to preserve some factual situation. The importance of the interdicts in the Romans’ life was great, especially when one was aware of the advantage of the interdict over the protection of rights through a lawsuit, since the interdict protection did not require the right to the possession to be proved, which was difficult and complicated. A feature of interdiction disputes was speed and efficiency, so it was the reason why right-holders often opted for this type of protection, not just the holders of things.