Omnia sunt communia

Omnia sunt communia is a Latin phrase and slogan translated as "all things are to be held in common"^[1] or simply "all things in common". Originating in the Latin translation of the Acts of the Apostles, altered forms of the slogan were applied as a legal maxim in canon law and later in secular law. The phrase was also a central inspiration for Christian communism.

Omnia sunt communia derives from Acts 2:44 and 4:32 in the Christian Bible.^[2] The standard Koine Greek texts of the New Testament describe the Early Christians of the Apostolic Age as "having all things in common" (Greek: εἶχον ἅπαντα κοινά, eîchon hápanta koiná).^[3] after the miracles of Pentecost while the apostles celebrated Shavuot in Jerusalem shortly after Jesus's crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. This event is celebrated by Christians as the beginning of the church^[4] and usually dated to somewhere between AD 30 and 36.^[5] After Peter's first trial before the Sanhedrin at some later date, the Christians are described as "one in heart and mind" and it is repeated that "to them all things were in common" (ἦν αὐτοῖς πάντα κοινά, ēn autois panta koina).^[6] In the Vulgate, Jerome's Latin translation, these passages become "they held all things in common" (Latin: habebant omnia communia)^[7] and "to them all things were in common" (erant illis omnia communia).^[8]

The 12th-century Italian jurist Bernardus Papiensis adapted the phrase into canon law as tempore necessitate omnia sunt communia, "in a time of necessity all things are common".^[9] In his treatise on justice in the Summa Theologica,^[10] 13th-century philosopher Thomas Aquinas used the same phrase, as well as the broader concept, to argue that it was not a sin for a person to steal if they were motivated by genuine need.^[11] Dialogus, a text written in the 14th century by William of Ockham, also used the specific Latin phrase omnia sunt communia.^[12] The same principle was later applied in secular law in various contexts, including justifying emergency taxation by a monarch.^[13]

Hugo Grotius used the phrase as adapted by Papiensis to argue that states must not prevent refugees from entering their lands if they had been forced out of their own.^[14] English jurist Matthew Hale added a qualifier, proposing that in casu extremæ necessitatis omnia sunt communia, literally "in cases of extreme necessity everything is held in common". In English common law, this essentially meant that private property could be seized by the government for the purpose of its defense, and the previous owners of that property would have no legal recourse. More broadly, it signified that the welfare of the community was prioritized over that of any individual.^[15] This concept developed over time into expropriation,^[15] as well as eminent domain.^[16]

The description of the members of the early church in Acts was a key inspiration for Christian communism.^[2] Thomas Müntzer, a leader in the German Peasants' War, described the concept of omnia sunt communia as the definition of the Gospel,^[17] arguing also that all things "should be distributed as occasion requires, according to the several necessities of all".^[2]

In Utopia by Thomas More, the phrase omnia sunt communia is used to describe the lifestyle of the Utopians, as on More's fictional island of Utopia "all things are held in common".^[18]

Modern left-winged movements have adopted the phrase, such as autonomist Marxism,^[19] the commons movement,^[20] and other social movements.^[21]

After Madrid municipal elections in 2015, several city councellors swore their positions using omnia sunt communia.^[22]

• Koinonia – Christian fellowship
• Zwijndrechtse Nieuwlichters – 19th cent. Christian sect inspired by apostolic communism
• "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" – Communist slogan
• The Goose and the Common - 18th cent. poem that condemned enclosure