Res nullius

'''''Res nullius''''' is a term of Roman law meaning "things belonging to no one";<ref>Adolf Berger, entry on ''res nullius'', ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law'' (American Philological Society, 1953, 1991), p. 679.</ref><ref>Johnston. The International Law of Fisheries. 1987. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vfs5vtLSCD8C&pg=PA309 p 309].</ref> that is, property not yet the object of rights of any specific subject. A person can assume ownership of ''res nullius'' simply by taking possession of it ''(occupatio)''.<ref name=ejil-org-16-1-289/> However, in ancient Rome, certain forms of ''res nullius'' could never be owned (''res extra commercium'') because they were considered to belong either in common to all or to the divine rather than human ''dominium''.<ref>W. W Buckland, ''A Manual of Roman Private Law'' (Cambridge University Press, 1939), p. 138.</ref> The use of ''res nullius'' as a legal concept continues in modern civil legal systems. Examples of ''res nullius'' are wild animals (''ferae naturae'') or abandoned property (''res derelictae''). Finding can also be a means of ''occupatio'' (i.e. vesting ownership), since a thing completely lost or abandoned is ''res nullius'', and therefore belonged to the first taker.<ref name=CathEnc-8-Rom-law/> Specific legislation may be made, e.g. for beachcombing.

==Scope==

=== Wild animals === In common law legal systems, forest laws, and game laws have specified which animals are ''res nullius'' and when they become someone's property. Wild animals are regarded as ''res nullius'', and as not being the subject of private property until reduced into possession by being killed or captured (see, e.g. ''Pierson v. Post''): : A bird in the hand is owned; a bird in the bush is not.

Even bees do not become property until hived.<ref name=EB-11-440-Game-laws/> An exception in the United Kingdom is the mute swan: The U.K. Monarch retains the right to assert ownership of unmarked mute swans, which he currently does on stretches of the Thames and its tributaries.

Likewise in common law systems, abandoned things are generally the property of the owner of the land in which they are found. Exceptions include treasure trove, for which specific law applies, generally making it Crown property; and some types of shipwreck, such as flotsam, jetsam, lagan and derelict.

=== Modern public international law === A concept derived from ''res nullius'' by allegory is ''terra nullius''.<ref name=Benton-Straumann-acq-emp/> Using it, a state may assert control of an unclaimed territory by occupying it.

This ''terra nullius'' principle was used to justify colonization of much of the world, as exemplified in the competition for influence within Africa by the European powers (see the scramble for Africa). The concept was applied even where there were indigenous peoples residing in what Europeans considered newly discovered land, as in Australia.<ref name=Barry-1962-intro-Rom-law/> It was also used by English colonists in Ireland, based on similar grounds to those used in the Americas and Australia: in the early stages of the Munster Plantation it was argued that much of Ireland was ''res nullius'' as the Gaelic Irish were "not thrifty, and civil and human creatures, but rather savage and brute beasts." (Anthony Trollope) Much of the native population had been killed during the Desmond Rebellions, and Irish land use was seen as inefficient, based mostly on pastoralism; thus, land could be claimed as ''res nullius'' and planted with English, Welsh and Scottish colonists.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tBNREAAAQBAJ&dq=%22res+nullius%22+munster&pg=PA133|title=Making Ireland British, 1580-1650|first=Nicholas|last=Canny|date=3 May 2001|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-154201-5 |via=Google Books}}</ref> It was also used with regard to plantation of the Ards Peninsula.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kCyIHyf3gFQC&dq=%22res+nullius%22+munster&pg=PA97|title=Interlocutors of Paradise|first=Martin|last=Anderson|date=26 September 2012|publisher=Skylight Press|isbn=9781908011565 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/irish-historical-studies/article/abs/social-and-economic-consequences-of-the-desmond-rebellion-of-157983/9AFBD9AF0208797251714B079702C485|title=The social and economic consequences of the Desmond rebellion of 1579–83|first=Anthony M.|last=McCormack|date=26 May 2004|journal=Irish Historical Studies|volume=34|issue=133|pages=1–15|via=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/S0021121400004053|s2cid=163236073 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==See also== *Unowned property *''Hefker''

== References == {{reflist|25em|refs=

<ref name=Barry-1962-intro-Rom-law> {{cite book |last=Nicholas |first=Barry |year=1962 |title=An Introduction to Roman Law |page=132 |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=0-19-876063-9 |oclc=877760 }} </ref>

<ref name=Benton-Straumann-acq-emp> {{cite book |first1=Lauren |last1=Benton |first2=Benjamin |last2=Straumann |year= |title=Acquiring Empire by Law: From Roman doctrine to early modern European practice |page=2 }} </ref>

<ref name=CathEnc-8-Rom-law> {{cite Catholic Encyclopedia |first=Joseph |last=Kelly |wstitle=Roman law |volume=8 }} </ref>

<ref name=EB-11-440-Game-laws> {{EB1911 |wstitle=Game laws |volume=11 |page=440 |inline=1 }} </ref>

<ref name=ejil-org-16-1-289>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ejil.org/pdfs/16/1/289.pdf|title=Argument from Roman law in current international law: Occupation and acquisitive prescription}}</ref>

}}

Category:Roman law Category:International law Category:Property law Category:Legal rules with Latin names