[k] 5 Rep. 108. Bro. Abr. tit. Estray. Cro. Eliz. 716.
[l] Stiernh. de jur. Gothor. l. 3. c. 5.
[m] Dalt. Sh. 79.
[n] Finch. L. 177.
[o] l. 1. c. 43.
[p] 7 Rep. 17.
[q] 1 Roll. Abr. 889.
[r] Cro. Jac. 147.
[] Cro. Jac. 148. Noy. 119.
Besides the particular reasons before given why the king should have the several revenues of royal fish, shipwrecks, treasure-trove, waifs, and estrays, there is also one general reason which holds for them all; and that is, because they are bona vacantia, or goods in which no one else can claim a property. And therefore by the law of nature they belonged to the first occupant or finder; and so continued under the imperial law. But, in settling the modern constitutions of most of the governments in Europe, it was thought proper (to prevent that strife and contention, which the mere title of occupancy is apt to create and continue, and to provide for the support of public authority in a manner the least burthensome to individuals) that these rights should be annexed to the supreme power by the positive laws of the state. And so it came to pass that, as Bracton expresses it[t], haec, quae nullius in bonis sunt, et olim fuerunt inventoris de jure naturali, jam efficiuntur principis de jure gentium.