Legal Definitions - de libero passagio

De libero passagio is a historical legal term that refers to a type of writ, or formal court order, issued to ensure an individual's right to free passage, particularly over water. This writ was used when someone was being unlawfully prevented from exercising an established right to travel across a body of water, such as a river, stream, or ferry crossing.

Here are some examples illustrating how de libero passagio might have been applied:

• Imagine a medieval merchant who traditionally used a specific ferry route to transport goods across a river between two market towns. If a local lord, whose land bordered the river, suddenly decided to block access to the ferry landing or demand an exorbitant, unauthorized toll, the merchant could have petitioned the court for a de libero passagio writ. This writ would compel the lord to restore the customary free passage or the traditional, lawful toll, asserting the merchant's established right to use that crossing.

• Consider a group of villagers in the 14th century who relied on a particular river crossing to access their common grazing lands or a vital mill located on the opposite bank. If a new landowner acquired the property along the riverbank and decided to erect a barrier, thereby obstructing the villagers' long-standing customary right of passage, the villagers could have sought a de libero passagio writ. This legal instrument would have been used to enforce their right to continue using the established crossing point.

• In another historical context, a monastery might have possessed a long-established right to transport supplies and produce across a specific stretch of a navigable canal that ran through private land. If the landowner decided to erect a physical barrier, such as a temporary dam, or began charging an unauthorized fee for transit, thereby obstructing the monastery's traditional and necessary passage, the monastery could have sought a de libero passagio writ. This writ would have affirmed and enforced their right to free transit along that waterway.