Jus naufragii
Encyclopedia
The jus naufragii sometimes lex naufragii (law of shipwreck), was a medieval custom (never actually a law) which allowed the inhabitants or lord of a territory to seize
all that washed ashore from the wreck of a ship along its coast. This applied, originally, to all the cargo of the ship, the wreckage itself, and even any passengers who came ashore, who were thus converted into slaves. This latter custom disappeared before the jus naufragii came to the attention of lawmakers.
must be punishing the doomed ship for the vice of the crew. The ship and its cargo had thus been taken from their rightful owners by an act of God and were fair game. Despite this, consistent attempts to abolish the practice are recorded over the course of more than a millennium.
Roman
and Byzantine law
made no room for the custom. The Codex
and the Digesta
of Justinian I
include sections respectively titled De naufragiis and De incendio, ruina, naufragio rate, nave expugnata. They refer to a law of the emperor Antoninus Pius
outlawing exercise of the jus naufragii. Around 500 the Breviarium Alaricianum of the Visigoths, probably following Roman law, forbade the custom. Theodoric the Great
also legislated against it, but apparently to no long-term avail.
Despite the appeal to Providence for its justification, canon law
anathematised those who exercised the jus. The Lateran Council of 1079 and the Council of Nantes (1127) both outlawed it. In 1124 Pope Clement II
issued a bull
condemning it and on 24 February 1509 Julius II
issued a bull prohibiting the collection of bona naufragantia.
The jus did not completely lack support, however. Charles I of Sicily
used it, Philip III of France
legislated regulations to cover it, and in the same kingdom Henry II
seems to have tolerated it. In his reign, according to De republica by Jean Bodin
, the jus was cited by Anne de Montmorency
to justify the seizure of a wrecked ship with the support of the king.
and Andrew II of Naples
signed a treaty, the Pactum Sicardi
, whereby the lex naufragii was abolished in the domain of Benevento. The Papacy and the north Italian comuni soon followed the southern example and fought to have the property rights (and right to liberty) of sailors and merchants recognised universally.
When in 1184 a Genoese
ship carrying Ibn Jubayr
was wrecked off the coast of Messina, it was only by the intervention of William II of Sicily
that the passengers were spared robbery and enslavement.
In June 1181 the Genoese ambassador Rodoano de Mauro signed a treaty with Abu Ibrahim Ishaq Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ali of the Balearics that included a protection of the rights of Genoese merchants from the exercise of the jus. This treaty was renewed for twenty years in August 1188 by Niccolò Leccanozze and Ishaq's successor. Meanwhile, on 1 June 1184, Pisa
and Lucca
had signed a similar treaty with the Balearic Muslims.
In the early thirteenth century, Frederick I
outlawed the jus in the Kingdom of Sicily
, and by 1270 the custom had gone completely out of fashion in the Mediterranean when Charles I, a Frenchman by upbringing, invoked the jus naufragii in Sicily, against the Eighth Crusade
rs.
In the territory of the Bishop of Utrecht the right was exercised on the river until its abrogation in 1163. The de facto independent Viscounty of Léon
sustained itself on the proceeds of "the most valuable of precious stones", a rock which generated 100,000 solidi per annum in revenue due to shipwrecks.
In the thirteenth century Edward I
in England
and Louis IX
in France
sought to ban the jus. In the fourteenth century the law became the target of several Holy Roman Emperors: Henry VII
in 1310, Louis IV
in 1336, and Charles IV
in 1366. In the fifteenth century the Hanseatic League
began funding salvage missions and offering rewards to salvors.
Attempts were also made in France to abolish the practice by means of treaties where legislation could not take effect. France and the Duchy of Brittany signed one in 1231 and France and Venice
in 1268. Most French maritime laws also included articles restricting the practice of lex naufragii, such as the Rolls of Oléron
of Eleanor of Aquitaine
(c. 1160), the Constitutio criminalis of Charles V
(the later Carolina of 1532), an ordinance
of Francis I
of 1543 and Charles IX
of 1568.
signed a treaty of alliance 17 September 1625 at Southampton
that included a clause allowing the owners of wreckage to reclaim it within a year, and France and the Netherlands signed 27 April 1662 demanding the restitution of shipwrecked goods on the payment of a droit de sauvement, a salvor's fee. A commercial treaty signed at Nijmegen on 10 August 1678 had an article to the same effect.
On 12 December 1663 the Netherlands abolished what remained of the old jus—the recht van de tiend penning, or right of the tenth penny. The French Ordonnance de la Marine (1681) abolished the jus entirely and put castaways under royal protection. The Turkish capitulations
of 1535 and 1740 contain clauses banning the jus naufragii.
Wrecking (shipwreck)
Wrecking is the practice of taking valuables from a shipwreck which has foundered near or close to shore. Often an unregulated activity of opportunity in coastal communities, wrecking has been subjected to increasing regulation and evolved into what is now known as marine salvage...
all that washed ashore from the wreck of a ship along its coast. This applied, originally, to all the cargo of the ship, the wreckage itself, and even any passengers who came ashore, who were thus converted into slaves. This latter custom disappeared before the jus naufragii came to the attention of lawmakers.
Right, God, and abolition
The theoretical basis for the law, in Christian countries, was that GodGod
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
must be punishing the doomed ship for the vice of the crew. The ship and its cargo had thus been taken from their rightful owners by an act of God and were fair game. Despite this, consistent attempts to abolish the practice are recorded over the course of more than a millennium.
Roman
Roman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...
and Byzantine law
Byzantine law
Byzantine Law was essentially a continuation of Roman Law with Christian influence, however, this is not to doubt its later influence on the western practice of jurisprudence...
made no room for the custom. The Codex
Corpus Juris Civilis
The Corpus Juris Civilis is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, issued from 529 to 534 by order of Justinian I, Eastern Roman Emperor...
and the Digesta
Pandects
The Digest, also known as the Pandects , is a name given to a compendium or digest of Roman law compiled by order of the emperor Justinian I in the 6th century .The Digest was one part of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the body of civil law issued under Justinian I...
of Justinian I
Justinian I
Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
include sections respectively titled De naufragiis and De incendio, ruina, naufragio rate, nave expugnata. They refer to a law of the emperor Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius , also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession to the throne...
outlawing exercise of the jus naufragii. Around 500 the Breviarium Alaricianum of the Visigoths, probably following Roman law, forbade the custom. Theodoric the Great
Theodoric the Great
Theodoric the Great was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , regent of the Visigoths , and a viceroy of the Eastern Roman Empire...
also legislated against it, but apparently to no long-term avail.
Despite the appeal to Providence for its justification, canon law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
anathematised those who exercised the jus. The Lateran Council of 1079 and the Council of Nantes (1127) both outlawed it. In 1124 Pope Clement II
Pope Clement II
Pope Clement II , was Pope from December 25, 1046 to his death. He was the first in a series of reform-minded popes from Germany.Born in Hornburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, he was the son of Count Konrad of Morsleben and Hornburg and his wife Amulrad.In 1040, he became Bishop of Bamberg...
issued a bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
condemning it and on 24 February 1509 Julius II
Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II , nicknamed "The Fearsome Pope" and "The Warrior Pope" , born Giuliano della Rovere, was Pope from 1503 to 1513...
issued a bull prohibiting the collection of bona naufragantia.
The jus did not completely lack support, however. Charles I of Sicily
Charles I of Sicily
Charles I , known also as Charles of Anjou, was the King of Sicily by conquest from 1266, though he had received it as a papal grant in 1262 and was expelled from the island in the aftermath of the Sicilian Vespers of 1282...
used it, Philip III of France
Philip III of France
Philip III , called the Bold , was the King of France, succeeding his father, Louis IX, and reigning from 1270 to 1285. He was a member of the House of Capet.-Biography:...
legislated regulations to cover it, and in the same kingdom Henry II
Henry II of France
Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...
seems to have tolerated it. In his reign, according to De republica by Jean Bodin
Jean Bodin
Jean Bodin was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. He is best known for his theory of sovereignty; he was also an influential writer on demonology....
, the jus was cited by Anne de Montmorency
Anne de Montmorency
Anne de Montmorency, duc de Montmorency, Honorary Knight of the Garter was a French soldier, statesman and diplomat. He became Marshal of France and Constable of France.-Early life:...
to justify the seizure of a wrecked ship with the support of the king.
Italy
In 827, Sicard of BeneventoSicard of Benevento
Sicard was the Prince of Benevento from 832. He was the last prince of a united Benevento which covered most of the Mezzogiorno. On his death, the principality descended into civil war which split it permanently...
and Andrew II of Naples
Andrew II of Naples
Andrew II was the duke of Naples from 834 to 840. During his reign, he was constantly at war with the Lombards and he allowed Gaeta, his vassal, to move towards independence under its own consuls....
signed a treaty, the Pactum Sicardi
Pactum Sicardi
The Pactum Sicardi was a treaty signed on 4 July 836 between the Greek Duchy of Naples, including its satellite city-states of Sorrento and Amalfi, represented by Bishop John IV and Duke Andrew II, and the Lombard Prince of Benevento, Sicard...
, whereby the lex naufragii was abolished in the domain of Benevento. The Papacy and the north Italian comuni soon followed the southern example and fought to have the property rights (and right to liberty) of sailors and merchants recognised universally.
When in 1184 a Genoese
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
ship carrying Ibn Jubayr
Ibn Jubayr
Ibn Jubayr was a geographer, traveler and poet from al-Andalus.-Early life:Born in Valencia in Spain, then the seat of an independent emirate. Ibn Jubayr was descendant of a tribe of Andalusian origins, Jubayr was the son of a civil servant...
was wrecked off the coast of Messina, it was only by the intervention of William II of Sicily
William II of Sicily
William II , called the Good, was king of Sicily from 1166 to 1189. William's character is very indistinct. Lacking in military enterprise, secluded and pleasure-loving, he seldom emerged from his palace life at Palermo. Yet his reign is marked by an ambitious foreign policy and a vigorous diplomacy...
that the passengers were spared robbery and enslavement.
In June 1181 the Genoese ambassador Rodoano de Mauro signed a treaty with Abu Ibrahim Ishaq Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ali of the Balearics that included a protection of the rights of Genoese merchants from the exercise of the jus. This treaty was renewed for twenty years in August 1188 by Niccolò Leccanozze and Ishaq's successor. Meanwhile, on 1 June 1184, Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
and Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
had signed a similar treaty with the Balearic Muslims.
In the early thirteenth century, Frederick I
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
outlawed the jus in the Kingdom of Sicily
Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...
, and by 1270 the custom had gone completely out of fashion in the Mediterranean when Charles I, a Frenchman by upbringing, invoked the jus naufragii in Sicily, against the Eighth Crusade
Eighth Crusade
The Eighth Crusade was a crusade launched by Louis IX, King of France, in 1270. The Eighth Crusade is sometimes counted as the Seventh, if the Fifth and Sixth Crusades of Frederick II are counted as a single crusade...
rs.
Northern Europe
In northern Europe the custom survived much longer, despite legislation designed to forbid it.In the territory of the Bishop of Utrecht the right was exercised on the river until its abrogation in 1163. The de facto independent Viscounty of Léon
Viscounty of Léon
The Viscounty of Léon was a feudal state in extreme western Brittany in the High Middle Ages. Though nominally a vassal of the sovereign Duke of Brittany, Léon was functionally independent of any external controls. It thus became the focus of revolts and wars when Brittany was drawn into the...
sustained itself on the proceeds of "the most valuable of precious stones", a rock which generated 100,000 solidi per annum in revenue due to shipwrecks.
In the thirteenth century Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
in England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
and Louis IX
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
in France
France in the Middle Ages
France in the Middle Ages covers an area roughly corresponding to modern day France, from the death of Louis the Pious in 840 to the middle of the 15th century...
sought to ban the jus. In the fourteenth century the law became the target of several Holy Roman Emperors: Henry VII
Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry VII was the King of Germany from 1308 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1312. He was the first emperor of the House of Luxembourg...
in 1310, Louis IV
Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Louis IV , called the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, was the King of Germany from 1314, the King of Italy from 1327 and the Holy Roman Emperor from 1328....
in 1336, and Charles IV
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....
in 1366. In the fifteenth century the Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
began funding salvage missions and offering rewards to salvors.
Attempts were also made in France to abolish the practice by means of treaties where legislation could not take effect. France and the Duchy of Brittany signed one in 1231 and France and Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
in 1268. Most French maritime laws also included articles restricting the practice of lex naufragii, such as the Rolls of Oléron
Rolls of Oleron
The Rolls of Oléron were the first formal statement of "maritime" or "admiralty" laws in northwestern Europe....
of Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...
(c. 1160), the Constitutio criminalis of Charles V
Charles V of France
Charles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois...
(the later Carolina of 1532), an ordinance
Ordonnance (French constitutional law)
In the Government of France, an ordonnance is a statute passed by the Council of Ministers in an area of law normally reserved for statute law passed by the Parliament of France....
of Francis I
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
of 1543 and Charles IX
Charles IX of France
Charles IX was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. His reign was dominated by the Wars of Religion. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Childhood:...
of 1568.
Early modern Europe
Several early modern treaties established a time frame during which the owner of the goods wrecked could claim them, typically a year and a day. England and the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
signed a treaty of alliance 17 September 1625 at Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
that included a clause allowing the owners of wreckage to reclaim it within a year, and France and the Netherlands signed 27 April 1662 demanding the restitution of shipwrecked goods on the payment of a droit de sauvement, a salvor's fee. A commercial treaty signed at Nijmegen on 10 August 1678 had an article to the same effect.
On 12 December 1663 the Netherlands abolished what remained of the old jus—the recht van de tiend penning, or right of the tenth penny. The French Ordonnance de la Marine (1681) abolished the jus entirely and put castaways under royal protection. The Turkish capitulations
Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire
Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire were contracts between the Ottoman Empire and European powers, particularly France. Turkish capitulations, or ahdnames, were generally bilateral acts whereby definite arrangements were entered into by each contracting party towards the other, not mere...
of 1535 and 1740 contain clauses banning the jus naufragii.