Postliminium

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The jus posiliminii was a fiction of the Roman law. Postliminium is a right recognized by international law, which contributes essentially to mitigate the calamities of war, wherein persons and things taken by the enemy are restored to their former state, when coming again under the power of the nation to which they belong.

A property which was taken by the enemy, and was either recaptured or rescued from the enemy by the allies or the fellow subjects of the original owner, does not become the property of the recaptor or rescuer as if it had been a new prize. These properties would, instead, be restored to the original owner by right of postliminy, upon certain terms.