The inviolability of ownership is one of the highest values of the constitutional order of the Republic of Croatia, and therefore any encroachment on the right of ownership by taking it away or limiting the powers that make up the subjective right of ownership is prohibited. The Croatian legal order allows the owner to protect his right to ownership through the competent public authority, as a rule, the judicial authorities, making available a proper lawsuit for the protection of ownership – in the literature generally known as rei vindicatio, legally regulated in Title VII. of the Law on Property and Other Real Rights. Historically speaking, rei vindicatio, as the most important lawsuit for the protection of property (actio in rem), arose within the framework of the Roman legal tradition. Its development can be traced starting with the first forms of judicial protection of property rights in the period of procedure per legis actiones in which rei vindicatio was realized through legis actio sacramento in rem. This was the oldest civil process, characterized by strict formalism, primarily owing to the duty of the parties to express themselves in precisely defined words, accompanied by specific gestures, and the slightest mistake would lead to the loss of dispute. Especially important was the vindicatio ritual of the parties, in which, after the plaintiff's pronunciation of the vindicatio formula invoking his right of ownership, the contravindicatio of the defendant would follow. In the period of classical Roman law, rei vindicatio was realized within the scope of formulary procedure that replaced the previous procedure per legis actiones. The above occurred due to the needs of increasingly developing modes of legal transactions, especially with foreigners, accompanied by requests for a faster and more informal procedure. This change is inextricably linked to certain changes in the structure of the rei vindicatio itself; first of all, the old ritual characteristics disappeared, and the formula gained special importance. In the formula, the praetor, cooperating with the parties, would appoint the judge, determine the content of the claim and other important facts necessary for the judge to make a decision. In this period, the lawsuit is defined as a lawsuit by a Quiritary non-possessing owner against a non-owning possessor, and a comparison with the contemporary Croatian regulation of a proper lawsuit for the protection of ownership (rei vindication) shows a significant influence of the Roman legal tradition. The structure of the lawsuit largely follows its Roman counterpart, but some differences are still clearly visible, primarily due to the acceptance of the objectivist conception of possession. Also, regardless of the changes in certain aspects of vindicatio protection that occurred up to the time of the creation of major civil codifications, it is precisely the Roman rei vindicatio and the solutions of classical Roman lawyers regarding its application that represent the basis of legal protection of property today in both European and Croatian law.