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[001] the sea, and the shores of the sea, as though accessories of the sea. No one therefore is
 [002] forbidden access to the seashore, provided he keeps away from houses and buildings
 [003] [built there], for by the jus gentium shores9 are not common to all in the sense that
 [004] the sea is, but buildings built there, whether in the sea or on the shore, belong by
 [005] the jus gentium to those who build them. Thus in this case the soil cedes to the
 [006] building, though elsewhere the contrary is true, the building cedes to the soil.10

Some things are public.


 [008] 11All rivers and ports are public, so that the right to fish therein is common to all
 [009] persons. The use of river banks, as of the river itself, is also public by the jus
 [010] gentium [and] consequently everyone is free to moor ships to them, to fasten ropes
 [011] to the trees growing there and to land cargoes upon them, just as he is free to
 [012] navigate the river itself. But the ownership of the banks belongs to those of whose
 [013] lands they are part, and theirs, for the same reason, are the trees growing upon
 [014] them. This is to be understood of permanent rivers, for streams that do not flow
 [015] uninterruptedly may be privately owned. Those things are taken to be public
 [016] that belong to all people, that is, which are for the use of mankind alone. Those
 [017] that belong to all living things may sometimes be called common.12

Some things belong to the universitas.


 [019] 13Things in cities belong not to individuals but to the universitas,14 as theatres,
 [020] stadia and the like; if there are any [such] they are the common property of the
 [021] citizenry.15 Theatres are so called from ‘theorando,’ that is ‘watching as a
 [022] spectator.’ A stadium is so called from the eighth part of a mile, which, so it is
 [023] said, Hercules ran at a single breath and then stopped. Such are said to be the
 [024] property of the universitas in dominion and use. Other things are said to belong to
 [025] the universitas not in use, but in dominion and profit, as the lands and the slaves
 [026] of a city, which belong to all the citizens in such a way that they belong to none
 [027] individually. 16

17Some things belong to individuals.


 [029] There are things that belong to individuals, as mine and thine, in dominion and
 [030] use, as the lands and the slaves of the citizens.18

Some things are sacred and holy, those consecrated to God.


 [032] 19Sacred, holy and inviolable things belong to no one, for what is subject to
 [033] divine law is no one's property20 but the property of God21 by the common opinion
 [034] of mankind.22 Sacred things are those properly consecrated to God by priests,23
 [035] such

Notes

9. Br's ‘litora,’ which does not appear in Azo, has long been a difficulty: Br. and Azo; Vinogradoff in Yale L. Jour., xxxii, 756 (Coll. Papers, i, 243-4); Kantorowicz, 88-9. But the passage is reasonably clear: D.41.1.14: ‘Quod in litore quis aedificaverit eius erit, nam litora publica non ita sunt ut ea quae in patrimonio sunt populi ...’

11. Br. and Azo, 86-8, 90, 93-4

11-12. Azo, Summa Inst. 2.1, nos. 6-10

13. Br. and Azo, 87-8, 90, 95

14. Quasi-sacred: infra iii, 40, 61; public: iii, 128; cf. 136

13-16. Azo, Summa Inst. 2.1, nos. 11-13

15. Azo ‘et si qua alia sunt communia civitatium’; ‘civitatensium’ (?)

16. Infra iii, 40, 128, 130, 136; Azo: ‘qui ita sunt omnium civium quod nullus his uti possit.’

17. From lines 30-32

18. Reading: ‘sicut fundi civium et servi,’ as Kantorowicz, 90; Br. and Azo, 89, n. 6, 95, 97

19. Br. and Azo, 89, 92, 94-5, 97

19-28. Azo, Summa Inst. 2.1, nos. 14-16

20. Infra 57, 137, iii, 40, 130, 136

21. Infra 41, 57, iii, 40, 128, 136

22. Infra 41, n. 30

23. Inst. 2.1.8; infra 58, iii, 61, 128

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