9 Any one can devote a place to superstitious uses of his own free
will, that is to say, by burying a dead body in his own land. It is not
lawful, however, to bury in land which one owns jointly with some one
else, and which has not hitherto been used for this purpose, without the
other's consent, though one may lawfully bury in a common sepulchre
even without such consent. Again, the owner may not devote a place to
superstitious uses in which another has a usufruct, without the consent
of the latter. It is lawful to bury in another man's ground, if he gives
permission, and the ground thereby becomes religious even though he
should not give his consent to the interment till after it has taken
place.
10 Sanctioned things, too, such as city walls and gates, are, in
a sense, subject to divine law, and therefore are not owned by any
individual. Such walls are said to be 'sanctioned,' because any offence
against them is visited with capital punishment; for which reason
those parts of the laws in which we establish a penalty for their
transgressors are called sanctions.
11 Things become the private property of individuals in many ways; for
the titles by which we acquire ownership in them are some of them titles
of natural law, which, as we said, is called the law of nations, while
some of them are titles of civil law. It will thus be most convenient to
take the older law first: and natural law is clearly the older, having
been instituted by nature at the first origin of mankind, whereas
civil laws first came into existence when states began to be founded,
magistrates to be created, and laws to be written.
12 Wild animals, birds, and fish, that is to say all the creatures which
the land, the sea, and the sky produce, as soon as they are caught
by any one become at once the property of their captor by the law of
nations; for natural reason admits the title of the first occupant to
that which previously had no owner. So far as the occupant's title is
concerned, it is immaterial whether it is on his own land or on that of
another that he catches wild animals or birds, though it is clear that
if he goes on another man's land for the sake of hunting or fowling,
the latter may forbid him entry if aware of his purpose. An animal thus
caught by you is deemed your property so long as it is completely under
your control; but so soon as it has escaped from your control, and
recovered its natural liberty, it ceases to be yours, and belongs to the
first person who subsequently catches it. It is deemed to have recovered
its natural liberty when you have lost sight of it, or when, though it
is still in your sight, it would be difficult to pursue it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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