The latest issue of Water Alternatives has an interesting article by Alberto Quintavalla, "Roman Law and Waters: How Local Hydrography Framed Regulation". The article provides a fresh and nuanced look at how Roman law dealt with water, showing that it did not have a coherent or unified approach to the many sites and types of uses made of water, and drawing some possible lessons for modern law. The abstract:
Is there a relationship between the conceptualisation of water and its regulation? There is no simple or obvious answer to this question. This paper contends that the Roman regulatory framework mirrored the fragmented conceptualisation of water that was dominant in pre-modern times. The paper aims to show that water regulation is sensitive to the particular conceptualisation of water that a society adopts, which in turn reflects the specific historical period in which it is embedded. It also aims to show that there may be a way to deal with local hydrography differently from the paradigm currently promoted by the integrated water resource management framework. These considerations are not moot in today’s discussions on water resource management.
Pont du Gard, part of the Nîmes aqueduct, France
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