In Shakespeare's play, Marc Antony's sardonic eulogy has already fired up the people of Rome to avenge the murder of Julius Caesar. He has saved the best for last. Shakespeare did not idly choose that emphasis. From his day to ours, British law has guaranteed pedestrian access even through private farmlands where footpaths ran before fences were built.
Ancient doctrines apply also to shorelines, lakes and rivers.
Seldom has any civilization been so blessed as Florida. But that soon will be only a heartbreaking memory if some of the forces manipulating Florida's wretched Legislature have their way. It will be too late even to riot, as the Roman mob did, because the land and the water will be gone, beyond even a Caesar's power to restore it. The public's only recourse would be to buy back what little it could, paying billions of dollars in windfall profits. A generation ago, anyone lobbying for such a bill would have been driven in disgrace from the Capitol.