in civil law. Takes place when the thing belonging to one person is attached or united to that which belongs to another, whether this union is caused by inclusion, as if one man’s diamond be encased in another’s ring; by soldering, as if one’s guard be soldered on another’s sword; by sewing, as by employing the silk of one to make the coat of another; by construction; as by building on another’s land; by writing, as when one writes on another’s parchment; or by painting, when one paints a picture on another’s canvas. 2. In these cases, as a general rule, the accessory follows the principal; hence these things which are attached to the things of another become the property of the latter. The only exception which the civilians made was in the case of a picture, which although an accession, drew to itself the canvas, on account of the importance which was attached to it.