Definition
Latin. Fish. A term of art in older common law texts, primarily appearing in property and commons doctrines concerning fishing rights. *Piscis* functions as a collective noun in Latin legal usage, encompassing both singular and plural referents — that is, "a fish" and "fish" (the class) are expressed by the same word without inflection for number. The term appears in early English legal authorities as a marker of subject matter in disputes over riparian rights, fisheries, and rights of common.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): *Piscis* is a Latin noun meaning "fish," familiar in English primarily through scientific nomenclature (Pisces, the zodiac sign; piscine, relating to fish) and biological taxonomy.
Historical common usage: Not independently listed in Webster's 1913, which treats derivatives (piscine, piscatory) rather than the Latin root.
The gap between common and legal meaning here is taxonomic rather than conceptual. In ordinary Latin, *piscis* simply means a fish. In legal texts, the term carries doctrinal freight: it signals entry into the law of fisheries, commons of piscary, and the ancient question of whether fish in a river or pond are the subject of property at all — a question with a specific and often counterintuitive answer in common law.
Common Confusion
Burrill's entry conflates two entirely separate terms without editorial separation: *piscis* (fish) and the Greek term *πιστικός* (*pistikos*, meaning the master of a ship in maritime law). These are unrelated concepts joined only by alphabetical proximity in Burrill's arrangement. Researchers encountering the Burrill entry should read carefully — the maritime law definition of a ship's master belongs to the Greek term, not to *piscis*.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers will encounter *piscis* most often as a Latin tag in cases and treatises dealing with fisheries, riparian rights, and commons of piscary — not as a term with independent doctrinal content. Its significance is largely that of a subject-matter signal in Latin-language citations from the Year Books through early modern English case law.
The reference in Burrill to *5 Co. 35a, Playter's Case* is the key anchor. Coke's report there addresses the nature of fish as property — specifically whether *piscis* is susceptible of ownership before capture. The common law answer is that fish in an open river or the sea are *ferae naturae*, not property until taken. This connects *piscis* directly to the law of capture and to the broader doctrine that wild creatures belong to no one (*nullius in bonis*) until reduced to possession.
Corpus researchers should note:
- The term will appear in Latin maxims and in digests that have not been translated. Recognizing *piscis* as subject matter (fisheries) rather than as a technical legal concept prevents misreading.
- Historical fishery disputes frequently turn on whether the water itself, the soil beneath it, or the fish within it are at issue. *Piscis* in a pleading or grant refers to the fish as a separate object of right, distinct from the fishery (the right to fish) and from the soil.
- The collective-noun character of *piscis*, flagged by Burrill, was legally significant in drafting: a grant of *piscis* could be construed to include all fish taken, regardless of quantity or species, unless further limited.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill is the primary historical legal dictionary source for this term. His entry is compact to the point of being skeletal: it identifies the Latin meaning, flags the collective-noun rule with a citation to Coke, and then pivots abruptly to the unrelated Greek maritime term *πιστικός* — an editorial anomaly that can mislead researchers skimming the page.
The Latin dictionary tradition (Lewis & Short, Forcellini) confirms the core meaning and the range of classical usage, but adds nothing distinctively legal. The legal weight of *piscis* comes not from the word itself but from the doctrinal context in which it appears in Coke, Bracton, and the Year Books. Historical dictionaries other than Burrill do not give the term a separate entry; it surfaces instead within entries for *piscaria* (fishery) and related terms. Researchers should treat Burrill's entry as a pointer to those doctrinal contexts rather than as a self-contained definition.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: FISHERIES; COMMONS OF PISCARY; FERAE NATURAE