Lat. In the civil- law. A doctrine or fiction of the law by which the restoration of a person to auy status or right formerly possessed by him was considered as relating back to tlie time of his original loss or deprivation ; particularly in the case of one who, having been takeu prisoner in war, and having escaped aud returned to Home, was regarded, by the aid of this fiction, as having never been abroad, and was thereby reinstated in all his rights. Inst. 1, 12, 5. The term is also applied, iu international law , to the recapture of property takeu by au enemy, aud its consequent restoration to its original owner. Postliminium fingit eum qui captus est in civitate semper fuisse. Postliminy feigns that he who has been captured has never left the state. Inst. 1, 12, 5; Dig. 4’J, 51
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
