146 



difficult; otherwise it belongs to the Urst taker. 15. Peacocks and 

 pigeons are naturally wild, and it is not material that they get into 

 a habit of Hying away and coming back; for bees do the same, and 

 their nature is admitted to be wild. Some peojile, too, have deer so 

 tamed that they habitually go into the woods and come home again, 

 and yet no one denies that these animals also are naturally wild. Still, 

 with regard to animals of this sort, ivhich go and come recjularly^ the 

 rule has been adopted, that they are regarded as being yours so lo7ig as 

 they have the intent of returning j for if they cease to have that 

 intent they also cease to be yours and become the property of the first 

 taker. And they are held to have lost the intent of returning Avhen 

 they cease from the habit of returning." Boole II, Title I, Abdy & 

 WaRerh ed., pp. 82, 83, 84. 

 To the same effect is Gains, who, in his Commentaries, says: 

 <'GG. But not only those things which become ours by delivery are 

 acquired by us on natural principles, but also those which we acquire 

 by occupation, on the ground that they previouslj' belonged to no one; 

 of which class are all things caught on laud, in the sea, or in the air. 

 G7. If, tlierefore, we have caught a wild beast, or a bird, or a fish, any- 

 thing we have so cauglit at once becomes ours, and is regarded as 

 being ours so long as it is Icept in our custody. But when it has escaped 

 from our custody and returned into its natural liberty, it again becomes 

 the property of the first taker, because it ceases to be ours. And it is 

 considered to recover its natural liberty when it has either gone out of 

 our sight or, altboug'h it be still in our sight, yet its pursuit is difiicult. 

 08. With regard to those animals which are accustomed to go and 

 return habitually, as doves, and bees, and deer, which are in the habit 

 of going into the woods and coming back again, we have this rule 

 handed down: that if they cease to have the intent of returning they 

 also cease to be ours, and become the i)ropeity of the first taker, and 

 they are considered to cease to have the intent of returning when they 

 have abandoned the habit of returning." Blc. II, Sees. 66, 67, and 68. 

 Abdy & Wal]cer\s ed. p. 98. See, also, Munter^s lioman Laio, 2d ed., p. 

 346. 



Van Leeuwen, in his Commentaries on Roman-Dutch Law, enumer- 

 ates among res nullius those Avhich, " although not belonging to any- 

 body, may yet be brought under the dominion or possession of another;" 

 and while stating that there are some wild animals, '' as birds, fish, 

 and beasts inhabiting the sea or other waters, the air, or the earth," 

 which "may, according to the original institution of laws, be captured 



