Opinion ID: 597120
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Roman Law

Text: 39 Hypothecate stems from the Latin hypothecare. The Greek verb hypotithemi, from which the Latin, French and English words derive, means to lend money on pledge. 14 Under Roman law the hypotheca developed as a form of pignus which, like pledge, included delivery of possession of the thing to the mortgagee or creditor. Unlike pignus, however, hypotheca did not require delivery of the thing to the creditor. 40 The Roman law authority W.W. Buckland found that [b]etween hypothec and pignus there was in strictness no legal difference, but there was the physical fact that in the former the thing was left in the hands of the debtor.... But it was equally possible to create hypothecs on a thing already held by a pledgee.... 15 Buckland also referred to the findings of Erman, who seems to show that hypotheca is in origin merely a Greek name for pignus.... Later jurists use it more freely and as synonymous with pignus. 16 Finally, Buckland maintained that the actio hypothecaria is a distinct action ... for the enforcement of the possessory right, and applies equally to pignus. 17 41 Another Roman law authority, H.F. Jolowicz, thought that the last form of pledge to develop was that known ... as hypotheca, i.e., the pledging of a thing by mere agreement, without the transfer of either ownership or possession. 18 Extending the caution that the classical use of the word is disputed, Jolowicz also emphasized the flexibility of the term: 42 Pignus and hypotheca are treated throughout [the Corpus Juris] as one and the same thing; in some cases possession is transferred at once, in others it is not, but that is all. The word pignus is freely used for both cases and indeed occurs in the formula of the very action which made pledge without possession possible. It is clear too that the particular case from which hypotheca arose was one which was but a slight extension of the original principle. 19 43