On the Law and Matter of Naval Affairs, and on the Lawful Precepts of Naval Affairs and of War on Water, a Book

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Original title: De iure, & re nauali et de ipsius rei navalis et belli aquatici praeceptis legitimis, liber A Latin juridical treatise in seventeen books by the Ravennate jurist Giulio Ferretti (d. 1547), addressed to Emperor Charles V. It applies the civil and canon law to naval affairs and warfare at sea, starting from the Justinianic partnership of law and arms. Each topic moves from precept to ancient and modern examples and then to scholastic questions. Its subjects include ships and the liability of shipmasters, merchants' books, marine insurance, exchange and the sea loan (risk may be priced, time may not, on pain of usury), and partnership. It also treats imperial authority, Venetian jurisdiction and dominion over the Adriatic, pirates as public enemies, and reprisals. Further topics are crew wages, keeping faith with enemies, military discipline, Greek fire and arson, winds and weather signs, and Charles V's 1541 Algiers expedition. Books also address the law of wreck, princely provisioning and monopoly, stratagem, Venice and its founding, Genoese–Venetian wars, and military testaments. The later books cover water-rights, servitudes and mills, and unknown islands, ending with the question of title to islands born in the sea. The work was printed posthumously at Venice by Francesco de Franceschi in 1579; it had also appeared in Ferretti's Consilia et tractatus (Venice, 1562). 👉 Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here 📜 View the original source file This text was transcribed and translated as part of the ExLatinis project—an effort by Leo to make English translations of every published text in Latin in early modern Europe (between 1450 and 1750) available to the public for free online.

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