Jus naufragii

The jus naufragii (right of shipwreck), 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.

The theoretical basis for the law, in Christian countries, was that God 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 1179 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.

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