An action which lay for one who had lost a thing of which he had bona fide obtained possession, before he had gained a property in it, in order to have it restored, under color that he had obtained a property in it by prescription. Inst. 4, 6, 4; Heinecc. Elem. lib. 4, tit. 6, 1381; fiallifax, Anal. b. 3, c. 1, n. 9. It was an honorary action, and derived its name from the praetor Publicius, by whose edict it was first given. Inst. 4, 6, 4.