226 THE RELATIONS OF THE STATE WITH 



is exclusively enjoyed by the subjects of the adjoining 

 state. Formerly, the width from the shore was limited by 

 the reach of a cannon-shot quousque tormenta explo- 

 duntur (vide Selden ; and Bynkershoek De Dom : Mar : 

 cap. 2) but modern international usage has fixed the 

 distance at a marine league. 



The rights which, through the sanction of the State, 

 exist between subject and subject are designated private 

 rights, and are exercised over those things which, unlike 

 the sea, are the ascertainable or more or less exclusive 

 property of particular individuals. An example of this 

 class is the right which a proprietor has to fish in an 

 unnavigable river, where he is protected in its enjoyment, 

 because either in severalty or in connection with others 

 he is himself the owner of the subaqueous soil, or has 

 obtained a grant of fishery rights from those who 

 possess it. This aspect of fisheries does not concern the 

 present subject. 



The title to fish when caught is acquired by what in 

 the civil law was called occupatio, or, in other words, by 

 the mere taking possession of those things which before 

 did not belong to anybody. English law has borrowed 

 but little from Roman law ; title by occupancy in respect 

 of sea-fish is, however, distinctly acknowledged, and the 

 dictum of Gaius has prevailed to the present day. " Itaque 

 si feram bestiam aut volucrem aut piscem ceperimus, 

 quidquid ita captum fuerit, id statim nostrum fit, et eo 

 nostrum esse intellegitur, donee nostra custodia coerceatur : 

 cum vero custodiam nostram evaserit et in naturalem 

 libertatem se receperit rursus occupantis fit " (Gaii Insti- 

 tutiones, lib. ii. 67). 



For these two reasons the common freedom of the sea 

 and title by occupancy our State has intervened but 



