[ULPIANUS libro sexagensimo octauo ad edictum. ] §43.12.1.prAit praetor: 'Ne quid in flumine publico ripaue eius facias neue quid in flumine publico neue in ripa eius immittas, quo statio iterue nauigio deterior sit fiat'. §43.12.1.1Flumen a riuo magnitudine discernendum est aut existimatione circumcolentium.
[ULPIANUS on the Edict, Book 68] The praetor says: "Do not do anything in a public river or on its bank, nor discharge anything into a public river or onto its bank, whereby the landing-place or the route for a vessel may be rendered or become worse." A river is to be distinguished from a brook by its size or by the opinion of those living around it.
§43.12.1.2Item fluminum quaedam sunt perennia, quaedam torrentia.
Likewise, some rivers are perennial, others are torrential.
perenne est, quod semper fluat, ἀέναος, torrens ὁ χειμάρρους: si tamen aliqua aestate exaruerit, quod alioquin perenne fluebat, non ideo minus perenne est.
A perennial river is one that always flows (ἀέναος), a torrential one is (ὁ χειμάρρους). However, if a river which otherwise flowed perennially should dry up during some summer, it is not on that account any less perennial.
§43.12.1.3Fluminum quaedam publica sunt, quaedam non.
Some rivers are public, others are not.
publicum flumen esse Cassius definit, quod perenne sit: haec sententia Cassii, quam et Celsus probat, uidetur esse probabilis.
Cassius defines a public river as one that is perennial; this opinion of Cassius, which Celsus also approves, seems to be probable.
§43.12.1.4Hoc interdictum ad flumina publica pertinet: si autem flumen priuatum sit, cessabit interdictum: nihil enim differt a ceteris locis priuatis flumen priuatum.
This interdict applies to public rivers; but if a river is private, the interdict will have no application, for a private river does not differ at all from other private places.
§43.12.1.5Ripa autem ita recte definietur id, quod flumen continet naturalem rigorem cursus sui tenens: ceterum si quando uel imbribus uel mari uel qua alia ratione ad tempus excreuit, ripas non mutat: nemo denique dixit Nilum, qui incremento suo Aegyptum operit, ripas suas mutare uel ampliare.
Now a bank will be correctly defined as that which contains the river while it keeps the natural direction of its course; but if at any time, either by heavy rains or by the sea or by some other cause, it overflows temporarily, it does not change its banks. Indeed, no one has ever said that the Nile, which covers Egypt by its rise, changes or extends its banks.
nam cum ad perpetuam sui mensuram redierit, ripae aluei eius muniendae sunt.
For when it has returned to its permanent measure, the banks of its bed are to be secured.
si tamen naturaliter creuerit, ut perpetuum incrementum nanctus sit, uel alio flumine admixto uel qua alia ratione, dubio procul dicendum est ripas quoque eum mutasse, quemadmodum si alueo mutato alia coepit currere.
If, however, it has grown naturally so as to obtain a permanent increase, either by the admixture of another river or by some other cause, it must be said without any doubt that it has also changed its banks, just as if it had begun to flow elsewhere after its bed was changed.
§43.12.1.6Si insula in publico flumine fuerit nata inque ea aliquid fiat, non uidetur in publico fieri.
If an island is formed in a public river and something is done on it, it is not considered to be done in a public place.
illa enim insula aut occupantis est, si limitati agri fuerunt, aut eius cuius ripam contingit, aut, si in medio alueo nata est, eorum est qui prope utrasque ripas possident.
For that island belongs either to the occupant, if the lands were limited, or to the person whose bank it touches, or, if it was formed in the middle of the bed, it belongs to those who own the lands near both banks.
§43.12.1.7Simili modo et si flumen alueum suum reliquit et alia fluere coeperit, quidquid in ueteri alueo factum est, ad hoc interdictum non pertinet: non enim in flumine publico factum erit, quod est utriusque uicini aut, si limitatus est ager, occupantis alueus fiet: certe desinit esse publicus.
In like manner, even if a river has abandoned its bed and has begun to flow elsewhere, whatever is done in the old bed does not concern this interdict. For it will not be done in a public river, since the bed will become the property of both neighbors, or, if the land is limited, of the occupant; at all events, it ceases to be public.
ille etiam alueus, quem sibi flumen fecit, etsi priuatus ante fuit, incipit tamen esse publicus, quia impossibile est, ut alueus fluminis publici non sit publicus.
That bed also which the river has made for itself, even if it was previously private, nevertheless begins to be public, because it is impossible for the bed of a public river not to be public.
§43.12.1.8Si fossa manu facta sit, per quam fluit publicum flumen, nihilo minus publica fit: et ideo si quid ibi fiat, in flumine publico factum uidetur.
If an artificial ditch is made through which a public river flows, it nevertheless becomes public; and therefore, if anything is done there, it is considered to be done in a public river.
§43.12.1.9Aliter atque si flumen aliquam terram inundauerit, non alueum sibi fecerit: tunc enim non fit publicum, quod aqua opertum est.
It is otherwise if a river has merely inundated some land but has not made a bed for itself; for in that case, what is covered by water does not become public.
§43.12.1.10Item si amnis aliquid circumeat, sciendum est eius manere cuius fuit: si quid igitur illic factum est, non est factum in publico flumine.
Likewise, if a river flows around some land, it must be known that the land remains the property of the person to whom it belonged; therefore, if anything is done there, it is not done in a public river.
nec pertinet ad hoc interdictum, si quid in priuato factum sit, ne quidem si in priuato flumine fiat: nam quod fit in priuato flumine, perinde est, atque si in alio priuato loco fiat.
Nor does it concern this interdict if anything is done on private property, not even if it is done in a private river; for what is done in a private river is just the same as if it were done in any other private place.