Also known as: res communis · common property · things common to all
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Things common to all that cannot be owned or appropriated by individuals, such as light, air, and the sea.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Roger Ramirez and Rosa Ruiz fish the open sea and divide their gross catch proceeds each week. They never signed any agreement to carry on a business as co-owners. Because the sea is res communes, their shared use and returns do not create a partnership between them.
Renee Rogers buys a lakeside lot subject to recorded duties to maintain shared docks. The lake itself remains open to public use as res communes. The servitudes attach only to the lots and do not convert the lake into privately owned common property.
Roberto Reyes and other lot owners form an association by majority vote to manage shared docks on a public lake. The lake remains res communes and cannot be appropriated. The association only enforces the lot servitudes and cannot claim ownership of the water.
Ricardo Rojas, a nonresident, pays higher fees to hunt elk in Montana. The state treats the wild elk as res communes held in trust for the public. This status allows Montana to impose the differential fees without violating privileges and immunities.
Ronald Reed catches minnows in Oklahoma waters and attempts to ship them interstate. Oklahoma prohibits the export because the minnows are res communes owned by the state in trust. The ban is struck down as an improper burden on commerce.
Radiant Technologies sends nonresident vessels to harvest shrimp off South Carolina. The state charges higher license fees because the shrimp are res communes subject to state trust authority. The differential fees are upheld only to the extent they compensate for added enforcement costs.
No. Joint or common rights in res communes such as the sea do not by themselves establish a partnership even when parties share returns from that use.
No. An association formed in a common-interest community may manage servitudes burdening lots but cannot acquire ownership of res communes such as navigable waters or air.
Wildlife is treated as res communes held by the state in trust for the public. This status permits reasonable differential fees or limits on nonresidents that do not amount to total exclusion.
…sovereign or other governmental authority. More recently this thought has been expressed by saying that fish and game are the common property of all citizens of the governmental unit and that the government, as a sort of trustee, exercises this "ownership" for the benefit of its citizens. In the case of fish, it has also been…