Question III: On the acquisition of dominion over irrational creatures

THERE OCCUR first the seas, which adjoin some land: for these are of those who dominate the shores, cap ubi periculum, §. Porro, de electione, in 6. and the Gloss there, praised by the Doctors of Canon Law, which Baldus also follows in cap. 1. enitio, quibus modis feudum amittatur, and in Leg. penult. at the end Cod. de infant. et substit. sub conditione factis, and in Authent. Ut omnes obed. iudicibus, §. 1. and l. 1. col. 2. de sent. ex brevi recitat. and cap. ex litteris, de probat. and cap. accedens 2. ut lite non contest. and the Doctors in Fagundez lib. 2. cap. 8. The holy Doctor indicates this ad 6. Lucae, where he observes that the sea of Galilee was fierce, because it adjoined the shores of Galilee, and was called of Tiberias, because it adjoined the City of Tiberias, built in honour of Tiberius Caesar. For on this account he who is on the adjoining sea, where it is maritime, is said to be in the district of that city, as appears from Leg. Insulae, ff. de iudiciis.

THEY SAY, however, that dominion is extended from the shore to 100 miles, Bartol. in tract. de Insula, col. 2. Caepola Tract. de servit. rust. praediorum, and it is found in Tom. 6. 2. part. tract. iuris, cap. 16. de mari, num. 13. and is gathered from Leg. Quicumque Cod. de Episcopis, et clericis.

THIS is understood provided that islands in the midst of the sea have not been found and cultivated; for then the whole sea in circuit, through the said space, belongs to the Prince, the finder, and the settler.

AND indeed the sea by the first division remained common; yet the utilities of fisheries, and navigations belonged first to the one who took them; but they belong rather to some one by the concession of a legitimate Prince, as the navigation of the Ocean was conceded by the Pope for sowing the Gospel, as Cabedo testifies he saw the Bulls of this concession, 2. part. decis. 47.

SO also the most illustrious Venetians enjoy by legitimate right the navigation of the Adriatic Sea, to remove Pirates, placed by divine providence.

YET fishing in the sea adjoining the land of some King, and in public rivers, is free to all the subjects of that Prince, ex Leg. 2. and Leg. Nemo, ff. de rerum divisione.

YET Princes have been able to reserve certain fisheries to themselves, as of Tunny, or of Whales, for the common good of the Kingdom. See Lessium Tom. 1. de iust. lib. 2. cap. 5. and Fagundez lib. 2. cap. 8. de contract.

ON the acquisition indeed of dominion over animals, over treasures, and the rest, I have briefly indicated something in the Disput. de restitut. nor does the holy Doctor suggest more to me on this matter.