Res nullius is a legal term referring to ownerless property, including abandoned objects, unclaimed land, and certain wild animals. The first person to take possession of res nullius becomes the rightful owner, and even lost treasures can fall under this category.
Res nullius, is a legal term of Latin origin which refers to a property or object that has no owner or has been abandoned. The term derives from Roman law and, if translated, literally means “nobody’s property”. There are a variety of objects that can be claimed as res nullius and are considered ownerless property, meaning they are free to be owned.
In this definition, the object, or “res,” must be something that a person can claim to own. While the law covers animals and land, the object in question cannot be a person, although its original meaning encompassed slaves as property rather than people. As established by law, if the owner of an object abandons or renounces ownership of him, then he is automatically considered res nullius. Traditionally, abandoned property can then be owned by any person, and the person who first takes possession of that property is considered the rightful owner. The res nullius does not apply to things or things stolen or unlawfully acquired, but only to things that have no owner or that have been abandoned.
A property or possession that has been abandoned by its owner is just as res nullius as something that never had an owner in the first place. This principle means that res nullius is also often used as a term to describe a situation in which a nation may lay claim to unmarked territory. Territory is res nullius and has no owner, so the claiming nation would gain control over the territory once one of its citizens sets foot on the unexplored land. In these specific situations, when a nation actually claims unmarked territory it is formally referred to as terra nullius.
The same guiding principle also applies to certain wild animals. Wildlife laws have been established stating that some animals in the wild are res nullius and can be possessed. They are not abandoned, but animals in the wild have never been owned, so the first person to catch or kill the animals would be considered the real owner. For example, a wild bird in a bush is res nullius, but a wild bird in someone’s hand is now in that person’s possession.
Finding or acquiring something that is res nullius can also be a way to acquire property. It works if the thing is truly and completely lost or abandoned and then found by another person. Thus, if long-lost treasures or artifacts were deemed permanently lost and are later recovered by treasure hunters or beachcombers, they would fall under res nullius and become the property of the first person to find them.
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