People: New and Romantic

An ancient maxim, attributed to Accursius (1182-1260) and much quoted by legalists, reads: Cuius est solum eius est usque ad coelum (He who owns the soil owns above it to the sky). Until recently this principle of property ownership was generally accepted, and air rights above property still sell for vast sums.* But the advent of air transport has vastly complicated Accursius' ancient tenet. When aircraft pass over a man's land or over foreign territory, is it trespass?

In England in 1920 Parliament decided: "No action shall lie in respect of trespass or in...

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