CHAPTER VI
_Neither the Sea nor the right of navigation thereon belongs to the Portuguese by virtue of title based on the Papal Donation_
The Donation of Pope Alexander, inasmuch as the title based on discovery is seen to be deficient, may next be invoked by the Portuguese to justify their exclusive appropriation of the sea and the right of navigation thereon. But from what has been said above, that Donation is clearly convicted of being an act of empty ostentation. For a Donation has no effect on things outside the realm of trade. Wherefore since neither the sea nor the right of navigating it can become the private property of any man, it follows that it could not have been given by the Pope, nor accepted by the Portuguese. Besides, as has been mentioned above, following the opinion of all men of sound judgment, it is sufficiently well recognized that the Pope is not the temporal lord of the earth, and certainly not of the sea. Even if it be granted for the sake of argument that such were the case, still a right attaching to the Pontificate ought not to be transferred wholly or in part to any king or nation. Similarly no emperor could convert to his own uses or alienate at his own pleasure the provinces of his empire.[112]
Now, inasmuch as no one concedes to the Pope in temporal matters a _jus disponendi_, except perhaps in so far as it is demanded by the necessity of spiritual matters, and inasmuch as the things now under discussion, namely, the sea and the right of navigating it, are concerned only with money and profits, not with piety, surely no one can have
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
respiciant, sequi nullam hac in re fuisse illius potestatem. Quid, quod ne Principes quidem, hoc est, domini temporales possunt ullo modo a navigatione aliquem prohibere, cum si quod habent ius in mari id sit tantum iurisdictionis ac protectionis? Etiam illud notissimum est apud omnes, ad ea facienda quae cum lege Naturae pugnant, nullam esse Papae auctoritatem.[113a] Pugnat autem cum lege Naturae, ut mare aut eius usum quisquam habeat sibi proprium, ut iam satis demonstravimus. Cum denique ius suum auferre alicui Papa minime possit, quae erit facti istius defensio, si tot populos immerentes, indemnatos, innoxios ab eo iure quod ad ipsos non minus quam ad Hispanos pertinebat uno verbo voluit excludere?
Aut igitur dicendum est nullam esse vim eiusmodi pronuntiationis, aut quod non minus credibile est, eum Pontificis animum fuisse, ut Castellanorum et Lusitanorum inter se certamini intercessum voluerit, aliorum autem iuri nihil diminutum.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
the face to insist that the Pope had any jurisdiction here. What of the fact that not even rulers, that is to say, temporal lords, can prohibit any one from navigation, since if they have any right at all upon the sea it is merely one of jurisdiction and protection! It is also a fact universally recognized that the Pope has no authority to commit acts repugnant to the law of nature.[113] But it is repugnant to the law of nature, as we have already proved beyond a doubt, for any one to have as his own private property either the sea or its use. Finally, since the Pope is wholly unable to deprive any one of his own rights, what defense will there be for that Donation of his, if by a word he intended to exclude so many innocent, uncondemned, and guiltless nations from a right which belongs no less to them than to the Spaniards?
Therefore, either it must be affirmed that a pronunciamento of this sort has no force, or, as is no less credible, that it was the desire of the Pope to intercede in the quarrel between the Spaniards and the Portuguese, and that he had no concomitant intention of violating the rights of others.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
CAPVT VII
_Mare aut ius navigandi proprium non esse Lusitanorum titulo praescriptionis aut consuetudinis_
Vltimum iniquitatis patrocinium in praescriptione solet esse aut consuetudine. Et huc igitur Lusitani se conferunt; sed utrumque illis praesidium certissima iuris ratio praecludit. Nam praescriptio a iure est civili, unde locum habere non potest inter reges, aut inter populos liberos;[114a] multo autem minus ubi ius naturae aut gentium resistit, quod iure civili semper validius est. Quin et ipsa lex civilis praescriptionem hic impedit.[115a] Vsucapi enim, aut praescriptione acquiri prohibentur, quae in bonis esse non possunt, deinde quae possideri vel quasi possideri nequeunt, et quorum alienatio prohibita est. Haec autem omnia de mari et usu maris vere dicuntur.
Et cum publicae res, hoc est populi alicuius nulla temporis possessione quaeri posse dicantur, sive ob rei naturam, sive ob eorum privilegium adversus quos praescriptio ista procederet, quanto iustius humano generi, quam uni populo id beneficium dandum fuit in rebus communibus? Et hoc est
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -