res nullius
(la)
(lit: nobody's thing) derived from private Roman law whereby res (an object in the legal sense, anything that can be owned, even a slave, but not a subject in law such as a citizen nor land) is not yet the object of rights of any specific subject
Highlighted phrases
res nullius
Global capitalism tends to reduce the commons to res nullius which in Roman law designates anything that can be owned [...] but which is not yet the object of the rights of any specific subject--such things are considered ownerless property, 'free to be owned'.
notable
9 years, 1 month ago