“A person who comes into possession of moveable property without any title to retain custody thereof is obliged to restore it to the person truly entitled to the possession thereof…. [P]roperty so acquired is affected by an inherent vitium reale which prevents the thief or fraudulent person from conferring a good title on anyone, even a taker from him in good faith, who has given value and taken without notice of the thief’s defective title; such a person must return the property to the true owner, or pay compensation therefor…. An exception to the rule of vitium reale exists in the cases of money, bank-notes and negotiable instruments ….” 2 David M. Walker, Principles of Scottish Private Law: Law of Obligations 505–06 (1988).
vitium reale
vitium reale (vish-ee-[schwa]m ree-ay-lee). [Latin “true error”] Hist. & Scots law. A defect in a title that renders the movable property nontransferable; specif., an inherent vice in the title of anyone who holds a stolen thing, even if acquired honestly, so that the true owner can reclaim it. Cf. LABES REALIS QUAE REI INHAERET.
