things immovable is an easier matter; for it may easily happen
that a man may, without violence, obtain possession of land
which, owing to the absence or negligence of its owner, or to
his having died and left no successor, is presently possessed
by no one. Now this man himself does not possess in good faith,
because he knows the land on which he has seized is not his own:
but if he delivers it to another who receives it in good faith, the
latter can acquire it by long possession, because it has neither
been stolen nor violently possessed; for the idea held by some
of the ancients, that a piece of land or a place can be stolen,
has now been exploded, and imperial constitutions have been
enacted in the interests of persons possessing immovables, to
the effect that no one ought to be deprived of a thing of which
he has had long and unquestioned possession. 8 Sometimes
indeed even things which have been stolen or violently possessed
can be acquired by usucapion, as for instance after they have
again come under the power of their real owner: for by this they
are relieved from the taint which had attached to them, and so
become capable of usucapion. 9 Things belonging to our treasury
cannot be acquired by usucapion. But there is on record an
opinion of Papinian, supported by the rescripts of the Emperors
Pius, Severus, and Antoninus, that if, before the property of a
deceased person who has left no heir is reported to the excheq-
uer, some one has bought or received some part thereof, he can
acquire it by usucapion. 10 Finally, it is to be observed that things
are incapable of being acquired through usucapion by a purchaser
in good faith, or by one who possesses on some other lawful
ground, unless they are free from all flaws which vitiate the
usucapion.