Editing Usucaption (section)

{{short description|Acquisition of property}}
{{Property law}}
'''Usucaption''' ({{langx|la|[[usucapio]]}}), also known as ''acquisitive prescription'',<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pombo|first1=Fernando|title=Doing Business in Spain|date=2017|publisher=LexisNexis|isbn=978-1579115814|page=275|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VIeB8CJrB9EC|access-date=20 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Penadés|first1=Javier Plaza|last2=Martínez|first2=Luz M.|title=European Perspectives on the Common European Sales Law|date=2014|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3319104973|page=290|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95kvBQAAQBAJ}}</ref> is a concept found in [[civil law (legal system)|civil law]] systems<ref>{{Cite web|title=Introduction|url=https://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780199838677/chapter1/intro/|website=global.oup.com|access-date=2020-05-26}}</ref> and has its origin in the [[Roman law]] of [[property law|property]].

Usucaption is a method by which [[ownership]] of property (i.e. [[title]] to the property) can be gained by [[Possession (law)|possession]] of it beyond the lapse of a certain period of time ([[acquiescence]]). While usucaption has been compared with [[adverse possession]], the true effect of usucaption is to remedy defects in title of lands that are without [[encumbrance]] on them.