Ownership

No Roman text offers a definition of ownership (dominium). The word dominium emerged at the very end of the Roman Republic. It was still unknown at the time of Cicero, though the word for owner (dominus) was in use.

Ownership encompassed the right to have, hold, use, enjoy, and alienate a thing, as well as to bring an action to recover it when necessary. The owner could give up or lose some of these rights, however (e.g., the right to use the thing or to take up the fruits of its use) while still maintaining the title of owner. In this sense, ownership, while it was the strongest legal title bestowed by Roman law, was not absolute. It was not heavily restricted, but public order and the interests of the community did justify some limits to private ownership. Special restrictions on the use of immovable property were also accepted, and expropriations were largely carried out, notably during the later Empire.

The main form of ownership was that recognized by Roman civil law (ex iure Quiritium). All Roman citizens, as well as non-Roman citizens with the right to commerce (ius commercii), were capable of acquiring quiritary or civil ownership over movable things and over land located in Italy. Provincial land without the status of Italic land was held by individuals in accordance with the rules of the law of nations for transferring property. After the Antonine Constitution provided citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Empire (212 ce) and Emperor Diocletian subjected even the land of Italy to the tribute (292 ce), the distinction between kinds of ownership lost any practical import.