Stolen Goods, The Bona Fide Acquisition

The rules on bona fide acquisition of spoils are a logic integration of the nature of spoils and bona fide acquisition principles. With the social and economic development over years, the property-transfer relationship has substantially gone beyond the property-ownership relationship in its economic value and social meaning. The security of transactions has become an important value concern in civil law around the world, and the economic need for transaction security is just a driver behind the development of bona fide acquisition system, which is designed with the tenet to protect the transaction security. In respect of physical and commercial attributes, the spoils are nothing different from any normal commodities. The third-party acquirers in good faith base their transactions on their belief in the public credit power of the possession publicizing, which paves the road for the application of the bona fide acquisition principles to the spoils.Based on the bona fide acquisition theories, this article discusses the standpoints of various countries on the applicability of bona fide acquisition principles for spoils, as well as the related legislative and judicial situations in China, and gives the legislation advice that the bona fide acquisition system should be applicable to the acquisition of spoils in good faith.