On the effectiveness of the protection of common things in the roman law: the case of the sea,

In the Roman law, the way the sea is regulated appears to be strictly connected to the elaboration, by the jurists, of the category of the res communes omnium. However, also before this category had been fully elaborated (in particular due to the contribution of Marcianus), Roman jurisprudence addressed the ‘public nature’ of the sea from various perspectives and it provoked interesting consequences in the thoughts of the jurists. For the present-day jurists, on the one hand, the category of the res communes omnium provides meaningful elements to be considered; on the other hand, it provides awareness of the relevance that the utilitas communis of certain things can be enjoyed by an individual as long as s/he is a member of the community.