A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2002 (DOST Vol. XI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1606, 1681
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Usucapion, n. [17th c. Eng. usucapion (1617), L. ūsūcapiōn-, cf. ūsūcapere, to acquire ownership by prescription.] Acquisition of title to property by virtue of long-term possession of it. Cf. Prescriptioun n.1 1 c. — 1606 Birnie Kirk-b. xix.
What we once annex to the crowne of Christs kingdome, the vnion is so indissoluble, that neyther prescription of tyme, vsucapion of person, nor boutgate of circumstance can giue a regresse 1681 Stair Inst. ii xii § 3.
As to the time appointed for usucapion, moveables are acquired by continual possession for one year … [but] public rights belonging to emperors and kings … cannot be acquired by usucapion or prescription in less than thirty or forty years 1681 Stair Inst. ii xii § 3.
The recent Roman law hath taken off all differences betwixt usucapion and prescription … whereby in either case property is acquired: yet in the ordinary acceptation, prescription, which is short in moveables, is commonly called usucapion, but we make only use of the name of prescription for both
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"Usucapion n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/usucapion>
