232 ROMAN FISHING REGULATIONS 



Whether a river was pubHc depended not only on its size, but 

 also on the " opinion of those dwelling around it." No river, 

 periodically dry in summer, could be accounted public [Digest, 

 43. 12, ss. 1-4). 



All streams not public, many lakes, and all piscincE, etc., were 

 private property, from which the owner could prevent any one 

 taking fish. The legal remedy for such exclusion, based on the 

 ground of trespass, was Interdict — a procedure very similar 

 to that of Scotland, whose law is mainly modelled on that of 

 Rome. 



The further legal question — were the fish in such piscines 

 res nullins or were they such individual property as to make any 

 one taking them without permission liable for theft — was 

 answered by the jurist Nerva in Digest, 41. 2. 3, s. 14, who held 

 that they were individual property- — " pisces quos in piscinas 

 coiecerimus a nobis possideri." 



Thus the owner of vivaria could proceed against a poacher 

 by (i) an interdict for trespass, and (2) a prosecution for theft, 

 in case of a fish being caught with the intention of taking it 

 away. On the other hand, a person prevented from fishing or 

 navigating by another could only proceed by an action of 

 Injuria, personal affront [Digest, 43. 8. 17, ss. 8 and 9; 41. i. 

 30; 43. 14, s. 7). 



Although I purposely limit myself to a very slight sketch 

 of Roman regulations, the case reported by Pliny (A^. H., IX. 

 85) seems, alike from legal and piscatorial interest, worthy of 

 reproduction and examination. 



As the Anthias is one of the shyest of fishes, special pre- 

 cautions and plenty of patience were necessary for a good 

 catch. Thus fishermen wore clothes of the same colour as 

 their boats. They sailed without fishing over the same stretch 

 of sea. They merely went on " baiting the swim " on each 

 tack, day after day, till some spirit, bolder than the rest, could 

 be induced to take the bait. Still more days elapse before the 

 fish, which has by this time been well identified, is followed by 

 any of his mates. Eventually example proves so infectious 

 that shoals innumerable, of which the Elder Brethren even eat 

 from the fisherman's hands, surround the boat. 



