RIGHT OF PRE-EMPTION - HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Vlad-Ionuț Savu

doi:10.31926/but.ssl.2021.14.63.2.30

Abstract

In this scientific approach, we will focus on the historical dimension of the right of pre-emption. This paper is structured in three chapters highlighting the most important historical aspects underlying the right of pre-emption. Etymologically, pre-emption comes from the Latin words pre (before) and emptio (sale). The first notions of the right of protimis appear in Roman law, where property and inheritance are treated as religious derivations. The great French historian Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges (1830 - 1889), in his work Cité Antique (Ancient City), stated that property appears to be of divine origin.It belongs to a family, which includes the protective gods, the dead and the continuators of the family cult, i.e. those who are alive or those who will be born. Each individual of the family is considered a temporary possessor of the property with the obligation to pass these rights on to the descendants in order to continue the family's domestic cult.

Highlights

The Romans, as the founders of the established institutions of modern civil law, conceptually developed a subjective right, which gives its holder a preference in the transmission and acquisition of property, known as the right of pre-emption.Most properties in Italy and Gaul were in a state of undivided ownership, which gave rise to multiple conflicts, especially when in competition with the descended co-owners of the original owner, foreigners came, usually creditors or buyers of the auctioned parts
The great French historian Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges (1830 - 1889), in his work Cité Antique (Ancient City), stated that property appears to be of divine origin
There were two solutions for resolving partition proceedings, the first was division in kind or the second, sale of the property, with the price divided between the co-owners

Summary

Introduction

The Romans, as the founders of the established institutions of modern civil law, conceptually developed a subjective right, which gives its holder a preference in the transmission and acquisition of property, known as the right of pre-emption.Most properties in Italy and Gaul were in a state of undivided ownership, which gave rise to multiple conflicts, especially when in competition with the descended co-owners of the original owner, foreigners came, usually creditors or buyers of the auctioned parts. The text of Constantine the Great's Constitution gave the coowners the right to exclude foreigners from buying the lots (sors) of the undivided property, establishing in perpetuity the situation created by the initiation of the partition process.

Results

Conclusion