Priority of purchase financier in legal historical and comparative perspective

The ranking of property rights is often determined by the priority rule: older in time, stronger in law. Roman law under the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian assigned priority to the creditor who had financed the purchase of a particular asset of his debtor and had obtained a lien for it as collateral, over the earlier creditor. Thus, Justinian Roman law broke the priority rule. This Roman law rule was recipitated in the ius commune and in the law applicable in the 'Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden'. During the codification period (+/- 1800) this exceptional priority rule seems to have been forgotten. Dutch law does not recognize it today. Our neighboring countries, particularly Germany and Belgium, but also the United States, still have this priority in certain forms. The study therefore also includes a legal comparison with other systems of applicable law and attempts to discover the operation and underlying principles of this priority position.