Fishing grounds as private property - The legal character and content of custom-based fishing rights in salt water

According to Roman law, the fish in the sea were res nullius - the property of nobody - and therefore was fisheryfree to anyone. Norwegian custom since at least the high Middle Ages has it that fishery was subject to a system of fishing rights, i.e. property that might be sold, inherited or acquired through the institute of adverse property. In 1728, fishery in Norwegian waters was rendered free in law, although in practice the law had little effect. In the jurisdiction of Nordhordland, in the western part of Norway, court records have no record of the law at all, and fishing rights in salt water enjoyed the full legal protection of the court. In this article, court cases from Nordhordland in the period 1642 to 1802 concerning or just mentioning such rights are used to establish a clearer picture of the legal character and content of fishing rights in salt water.