232 ROMAN FISHING REGULATIONS 
Whether a river was public 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. I-4). 
All streams not public, many lakes, and all piscine, 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 piscine 
ves nullius 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 vtvarvza could proceed against a poacher 
by (x) 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 g; 41. I. 
30; 43. 14, Ss. 7). 
Although I purposely limit myself to a very slight sketch 
of Roman regulations, the case reported by Pliny (N. 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. 
