Römischrechtliche Notizen zur antiken Flößerei

Abstract

The oldest mode of transport - the rafting of timber over a distance of two hundred kilometres on the Mediterranean already mentioned in the Old Testament - was also practised in the Roman Age with the aid of sails before the wind. The crews must have had at their disposal the necessary equipment, complete with the necessary lodgings and food supplies. In Mesopotamia, rafts kept afloat with inflated animal skins were used. The Roman legionaries used on their expeditions robust floating bridges to cross rivers. The Romans also rafted tree trunks to Lower Rhenish regions on the Rhine and its tributaries. Cooperative rafters' (ratiarii) associations are known to have existed in the Rhône region. In the sources on Roman law, approximately a dozen Digest passages are concerned with rafting. Some mention navis and ratis together; in other cases, the jurists applied regulations pertaining to navis also to rafts. The strict liability of mariners for the loss of transport goods or the belongings of passengers accordingly also applied to rafters. The authority held by captains of seagoing and inland vessels likewise applied for the head of a raft crew. The jurists moreover debated over the agency of natural forces on rafts and the claim to the retrieval of a stranded raft. Unlike sect. 867 of the German civil code, however, the person entitled to retrieve the raft not only had to recompense the losses caused by the search for and removal of the raft, but also (unjustifiably) those caused by its stranding (i.e. by force majeure). The Praetor's Edict moreover contained threats of punishment for pirate attacks on ships and rafts and defended the freedom to use the shipping routes on inland waterways and the open sea, also for rafts. As tree trunks loosely bound together to form a raft do not become essential components of a uniform object, the ownership of and nonpossessory pledge on individual trunks remained in force; their existence was verified with the aid of notches (raft marks).