The Property Rights And Fishing Rights Of Public Waters In Jiangnan Region:a Case Study Of Illegal Fishing In A Public River Of Suzhou Area

There have been tremendous researches in terms of property rights system in Jiangnan region. Particularly, the land property rights and the institutional changes have drawn a lot of attention. However, researches in the light of property nature of public water such as rivers and lakes are rare.To start with, this paper discusses a case in Suzhou prefecture in Qing Dynasty, which lasted for12years. It resulted from residents’fishing in Official River, which was not allowed at that time. Judged from appearance, it is a dispute between private individuals. However, what the disputants were arguing for is the fishing rights in a public river, where private fishing is forbidden. As a result, the real conflict involved in this case is the conflict between private interest and public interest. By discussing the case, this paper aims at analyzing the nature of public water property rights, and the difference between government concept and common concept in terms of "public property". Further, the reason why public water often gets involved in disputes would also be analyzed in this paper.The fishing rights, which can bring financial benefits to local government, is one of significant rights to use water. We can better understand the necessity of establishing modern property rights system in public waters by analyzing who can enjoy the fishing rights in public water and how local government in Qing Dynasty delimitate fishing activities and the range of fishing.From an economic and social history perspective, this paper illustrates the delimitation of public water property, the allocation of fishing rights and the management of fishing rights, which provides a new angle of view to study Jiangnan history.