- Source
- Digesta Iustiniani Augusti. Mommsen, Theodor & Krueger, Paul, editors. Berlin: Weidmann, 1870.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:1.8.5.pr-1.8.5.1
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-23
Gaius states that the use of riverbanks is public under the law of nations, listing permitted activities, while clarifying that ownership of the banks and their trees remains with the adjacent landowners, and grants sea fishermen the right to build temporary shelters on the shore.
[GAIUS libro secundo rerum cottidianarum siue aureorum.]
[GAIUS, Everyday Matters or Golden Words, book 2.]
Riparum usus publicus est iure gentium sicut ipsius fluminis. itaque nauem ad eas appellere, funes ex arboribus ibi natis religare, retia siccare et ex mare reducere,1 onus aliquid in his reponere cuilibet liberum est, sicuti per ipsum flumen nauigare. sed proprietas illorum est, quorum praediis haerent:2 qua de causa arbores quoque in his natae eorundem sunt.
The use of riverbanks is public by the law of nations, just like that of the river itself. Therefore, anyone is free to bring a ship to them, to tie ropes to the trees growing there, to dry nets and draw them up from the sea, and to deposit any load on them, just as they are free to navigate through the river itself. But their ownership belongs to those to whose estates they are adjacent; for which reason, the trees also which grow on them belong to the same persons.
In mare piscantibus3 liberum est casam in litore ponere, in qua se recipiant,4
Those fishing in the sea are free to place a cottage on the shore in which they may shelter themselves,
- 1.8.5.prex mare reducere
The direct object of the transitive verb reducere (to draw back) is the preceding noun retia (nets). The word mare is used here as an ablative after the preposition ex (from), where classical usage would typically require mari.
- 1.8.5.prquorum praediis haerent
The antecedent of the relative pronoun quorum (of whom) is the preceding illorum (of those). The unexpressed subject of the intransitive verb haerent (are adjacent) is contextually the riverbanks (ripae), and praediis (estates) is in the dative case, governed by haerent.
- 1.8.5.1In mare piscantibus
The present participle piscantibus (those fishing) is in the dative plural, serving as the dative of reference for liberum est (it is free). In in mare (into the sea), mare is in the accusative, suggesting movement into the sea to fish, though it may also stand for the ablative in mari (in the sea).
- 1.8.5.1in qua se recipiant
The antecedent of the relative pronoun qua is casam (cottage). The relative clause with the subjunctive recipiant expresses purpose ('a cottage in which they may shelter') or characteristic.