POSTLIMINIU

1 definition found

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  POSTLIMINIUM. That right in virtue of which persons and things taken by the 
  enemy are restored to their former state, when coming again under the power 
  of the nation to which they belong. Vat. Liv. 3, c. 14, s. 204; Chit. Law of 
  Nat. 93 to, 104; Lee on Captures, ch. 5; Mart. Law of Nat. 305; 2 Woodes. p. 
  441, s. 34; 1 Rob. Rep. 134; 3 Rob. Rep. 236; Id. 97 2 Burr. 683; 10 Mod. 
  79; 6 Rob. R. 45; 2 Rob. Rep. 77; 1 Rob. Rep. 49; 1 Kent, Com. 108. 


       2. The jus posiliminii was a fiction of the Roman law. Inst. 1, 12, 5. 
       3. It is a right recognized by the law of nations, and contributes 
  essentially to mitigate the, calamities of war. When, therefore, property 
  taken by the enemy is either recaptured or rescued from him, by the fellow 
  subjects or allies of the original owner, it does not become the property of 
  the recaptor or rescuer, as if it had been a new prize, but it is restored 
  to the original owner by right of postliminy, upon certain terms.