Aquatopia

Jurisdiction over the water has always been a somewhat chimerical and fluid legal topic. For the Romans it was the exemplum of what is held by all in common, a public good and so by connotation a sacred thing. Arguing against the standard interpretation of common law imperialism based on superficial readings of Mare clausum, this chapter argues that in a fully humanistic vein Selden in the main supported the idea of holding the oceans and seas in common. Selden puts much textual energy and inventiveness into protecting the ports and the shores of islands such as Britain, but, as to the ocean itself, he cites the story of King Canute and argues that God alone owns those aquatopic spaces.