Opinion ID: 2461173
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Origins

Text: The public trust doctrine is an ancient principle thought to be traceable to Roman law and the works of Emperor Justinian. See State v. Sorensen, 436 N.W.2d 358, 361 (Iowa 1989). Justinian derived the doctrine from the principle that the public possesses inviolable rights to certain natural resources, noting that [b]y the law of nature these things are common to mankindthe air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea. The Institutes of Justinian, Lib. II, Tit. I, § 1 (Thomas Collett Sandars trans. 5th London ed. 1876). He also stated that rivers and ports are public; hence the right of fishing in a port, or in rivers, is common to all men. Id. § 2. The doctrine was thereafter adopted by the common law courts of England, which espoused the similar principle that title in the soil of the sea, or of arms of the sea, below ordinary high-water mark, is in the King and that such title is held subject to the public right. Shively v. Bowlby, 152 U.S. 1, 13, 14 S.Ct. 548, 38 L.Ed. 331 (1894).