Last Updated on June 28, 2021 by LawEuro
German Civil Code (BGB) German law
Subtitle 2
Acquisition by prescription
Section 937
Requirements, exclusion in the case of knowledge
(1) A person who has a movable thing in his proprietary possession for ten years acquires the ownership (acquisition by prescription).
(2) Acquisition by prescription is excluded if the acquirer on acquiring the proprietary possession is not in good faith or if he later discovers that he is not entitled to the ownership.
Section 938
Presumption of proprietary possession
If a person had a thing in his proprietary possession at the beginning and at the end of a period of time, it is presumed that his proprietary possession also existed in the intermediate period.
Section 939
Suspension of prescription
(1) Prescription is suspended if the claim for possession against the proprietary possessor, or in the case of indirect proprietary possession against the possessor who derives his right to possession from the proprietary possessor, is asserted in a manner suitable under sections 203 and 204 to suspend limitation. However, the suspension occurs only for the benefit of the person who causes it.
(2) Prescription is also suspended as long as the limitation of the claim to possession under sections 205 to 207 or its expiry under sections 210 and 211 is suspended.
Section 940
Interruption by loss of possession
(1) Prescription is interrupted by the loss of proprietary possession.
(2) The interruption is deemed not to have occurred if the proprietary possessor loses the proprietary possession involuntarily and recovers it within the period of one year or by legal action instituted within this period.
Section 941
Interruption by act of execution
Prescription is interrupted by undertaking or applying for a judicial or official act of execution. Section 212 (2) and (3) applies with the necessary modifications.
Section 942
Effect of interruption
If the prescription period is interrupted, the time that passed before the interruption is disregarded; a new prescription period may begin only after the termination of the interruption.
Section 943
Acquisition by prescription and succession in title
If as a result of succession in title the thing enters the proprietary possession of a third party, the prescription period that has passed in the possession of the predecessor in title benefits the third party.
Section 944
Possessor of an inheritance
The prescription period that has passed for the benefit of a possessor of an inheritance counts in favour of the heir.
Section 945
Extinction of third party rights
On the acquisition of ownership by prescription, the third-party rights in the thing that arose before the acquisition of proprietary possession are extinguished, unless the proprietary possessor is not in good faith with regard to these rights on the acquisition of proprietary possession or he learns of their existence only later. The period of prescription must be completed with regard to the third-party right too; the provisions of sections 939 to 944 apply with the necessary modifications.
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