res communisn.

1704 T. Wood New Inst. Imperial or Civil Law ii. i. 65 Res communes are those in which no Person has a Property, neither can any one be Master of them, or deprive others of the use of them.

1720 J. Burchett Compl. Hist. Trans. at Sea iii. iv. 204 Grotius will have it that the Sea is Res communis, a thing common to all, and therefore cannot be challenged by any one as his Property or Possession.

1838 F. Lieber Man. Polit. Ethics I. ii. vi. 244 The state is what the ancients fitly called res publica, and defined by being res communis, res populi.

1854 P. Cumin Man. Civil Law 65 Q. When an island rises in the Sea, who is proprietor?.. A. The first occupier: until occupation, no one, it is a res communis.

1923 W. S. Holdsworth Hist. Eng. Law (rev. ed.) II. iii. iii. 273 He [sc. Bracton] then discourses upon..res publicæ and res communes. In his treatment of the latter topic there are traces that he had read Azo hastily.

1970 Internat. & Compar. Law Q. 19 237 It has been suggested that Antarctica has, in fact, become res communis.

1992 P. W. Birne & A. E. Boyle Internat. Law & Environment xiii. ii. 493 The seals were either res communis or res nullius in status, not the private property of the United States.