ƒ⅔port, and have continued a night intra praeſidia, in a place of ſafe cuſtody, ſo that all hope of recovering them is loſt.
And, as in the goods of an enemy, ſo alſo in his perſon, a man may acquire a ſort of qualified property, by taking him a priſoner in war[1]; at leaſt till his ranſom be paid[2]. And this doctrine ſeems to have been extended to negro-ſervants[3], who are purchaſed, when captives, of the nations with whom they are at war, and continue therefore in ſome degree the property of their maſters who buy them : though, accurately ſpeaking, that pro- perty conſiſts rather in the perpetual ſervice, than in the body or perſon of the captive. [4],
2. Thus again, whatever moveables are found upon the ſurface of the earth, or in the ſea, and are unclaimed by any owner, are ſuppofed to be abandoned by the laſt proprietor; and, as ſuch, are returned into the common ſtock and maſs of things : and therefore they belong, as in a ſtate of nature, to the firſt occupant or fortunate finder, unleſs they fall within the deſcription of waifs, or eſtrays, or wreck, or hidden treaſure ; for theſe we have formerly ſeen[5] are veſted by law in the king, and form a part of the ordinary revenue of the crown.
3. Thus too the benefit of the elements, the light, the air, and the water, can only be appropriated by occupancy. If I have an antient window overlooking my neighbour's ground, he may not ered: any blind to obſtruct: the light : but if I build my houſe cloſe to his wall, which darkens it, I cannot compel him to demoliſh his wall ; for there the firſt occupancy is rather in him, than in me. If my neighbour makes a tan-yard, ſo as to annoy
- ↑ Bro. Abr. tit. propertie. 18.
- ↑ We meet with a curious writ of treſpaſs in the regiſter (102.) for breaking a man's houſe, and ſetting ſuch a priſoner at large. "Quare domum ipſtus A. apud W. (in qua idem A. quendum H. Scotum per ipſum A. de guerra captum tanquam priſonem ſuum, quouſque ſibi de centum libris, per quas idem H. redmptionem ſuam cum praefato A. pro vita ſua ſalvanda ſecerat, ſatisfaiium foret, detinuit) ſregit, et ipſum. cepit et abduxit, vel quo voluit abire permiſit, &c."
- ↑ 2 Lev. 201.
- ↑ Carth. 396. LdRaym. 147. Salk. 667.
- ↑ Book I. ch, 8.
