ABSTRACT
The popular principles are very general indeed: the rule of law, equality, prohibition of discrimination and pacta sunt servanda. Though questionable in detail a list of general principles of property law can be offered: specificity, publicity, exclusivity, priority, numerus clausus, transferability, good faith protection, and absoluteness. Among all the principles in the list specificity seems to be the most common and widely accepted: the common law knows it, as well as German, French or Dutch law. In Germany the security rights that are found in the civil code follow the same principle of publicity: a pledged good has to be handed over to the pledgee, or, at least it has to be taken out of the pledgor's exclusive possession. To keep the legal situation in correspondence with the outward view can be seen as the basic task of the publicity principle. The numerus clausus of property rights is a principle that is again given varying attention in different legal orders.
