be acquired by usucapion, even by a person who has pos-
sessed 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 believes a thing lent or let to, or deposited with, the
person whom he succeeds, to be a portion of the inheritance,
sells or gives it by way of dowry to another who receives it in
good faith, there is no doubt that the latter can acquire the
ownership of it by usucapion; for the thing is here not tainted
with the flaw attaching to stolen property, because an heir does
not commit a theft who in good faith conveys a thing away
believing it to be his own. 5 Again, the usufructuary of a female
slave, who believes her offspring to be his property, and sells
or gives it away, does not commit a theft: for theft implies
unlawful intention. 6 There are also other ways in which one
man can transfer to another property which is not his own,
without committing a theft, and thereby enable the receiver to
acquire by usucapion. 7 Usucapion of property classed among