Abandonment of unmarked fishing gear – the private law institution in the service of public goals?

Abstract

The article discusses the notion of abandonment of fishing gear in the legal regulation of the Sea Fisheries Act of December 19, 2014, in the broader context of the possibility of achieving public goals in private law, the exercise of the owner’s right to abandon a thing, and the impact of public law on private law in the sphere of property law. Firstly, the legal construction of abandonment and the context of Roman law is outlined. Then, the model of abandonment in Polish civil law is discussed (in which the occurrence of the effect of dereliction lies in the sphere of the owner’s will), as well as the modification of this institution in the case of abandonment of fishing gear (in which the occurrence of the effect of abandonment depends on the objective premise indicated by the legislator). It leads to the conclusion that some public goals can be pursued with the support of private law institutions, but the implementation of these goals is derived from highly specified and strict obligations of a public law nature and often involves a limitation of the owner’s rights.