Noun
mandement van spolie (plural mandementen van spolie)
(South Africa) An order (restitutory interdict) handed down by a court on application, originating in Roman Dutch law where a person (spoliator) is compelled to return a thing that has been taken unlawfully. The case turns on possession, not ownership: a mandement van spolie can even be brought by a thief where the owner unlawfully retrieves the thing stolen.