Specificatio (Roman law)

Andrew Borkowski[5] considers that the Proculians treated specificatio as a form of occupatio.

At the moment of its creation, a nova species was regarded as a res nullius open to the first occupier, and for that reason it should be held to belong to the creator.

The solution in Justinian's Institutes was a compromise measure, known as the media sententia (or middle way).

[1]The issue of good faith (bona fides) was irrelevant to ownership, only to compensation.

Borkowski suggests that the test was not feasible if there was nothing left of the original material, e.g. if the creator chipped away at bronze to make a statue.

In relation to the creator who does not own through specificatio, possession would grant an exceptio to the rei vindicatio.