| A-F
| H-P | R-W | |
A |
|
Accretion |
The gradual and imperceptible accumulation of alluvion
(soil) by natural causes. It is created by operation of natural causes.
Accretion is the act, while alluvion is the deposit itself. It differs
from avulsion which is a sudden and perceptible loss or addition to land
by the action of water. |
Apparent shoreline |
The outer edge of marine vegetation (marsh, mangrove, cypress) delineated
on surveys where the actual shoreline is obscured. |
Avulsion |
The loss of lands by sudden or violent action of the elements, perceptible
while in progress; a sudden and rapid change in the course and channel
of a boundary river. |
B |
|
Bottom lands |
Land below navigable freshwater bodies. |
C |
|
Commerce |
Intercourse by way of trade and traffic, including
the purchase, sale, and exchange of commodities, the instrumentalities
and agencies by which it is promoted and the means and appliances
by which it is carried on, and the transportation of persons as well
as of goods. |
Commerce Clause |
Article I, Section 8, Clause.3 of the U.S. Constitution, which empowers
Congress
“to regulate commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several
States, and with the Indian Tribes.” |
Common law |
The system of jurisprudence, which originated in England and was later
applied in the United States, which is based on judicial precedent rather
than legislative enactments. Originally based on the unwritten laws
of England, the common law is generally derived from principles
rather than rules; it does not consist of absolute, fixed, or inflexible
rules, but rather of broad and comprehensive approaches based on justice,
reason, and common sense. It is of judicial origin and promulgation.
Its principles have determined the social needs of the community and
have changed with changes in such needs. These principles are susceptible
of adaptation to new conditions, interests, relations, and usages as
the progress of society may require. |
Concurrent powers |
Those powers of the federal government that are exercisable by the states
in absence of federal action, or with congressional consent. Such powers
are not concurrent in the sense of equal power with the federal government;
they are subordinate to the superior authority and superceded whenever
the power of Congress is exercised. State regulation of pilotage is an
example of a concurrent power. |
Conveyance |
Transfer of title to land from one person to another by deed. The term
may also include assignments, leases, mortgages, or encumbrances of
the land. Generally, every instrument in writing by which an estate
or interest in the realty is created. |
Custom and usage |
A usage or practice of the people, which, by common adoption and acquiescence,
and by long and unvarying habit, has become compulsory, and has acquired
the force of a law with respect to the place. |
D |
|
Deed |
An instrument in writing and under seal used for transferring land from
one owner to another, an essential requirement of which is that the land
be fully described in order that it may be properly identified. |
Delegation |
Transfer of authority by one branch of government in which such authority
is vested to some other branch or administrative agency. |
Dock |
An artificial basin or inclosure, in connection with a harbor, for the
reception of vessels; the slip or waterway extending between two piers
or projecting wharves, or cut into the land for the reception of ships. |
Due process |
A course of legal proceedings according to those rules and principles
that have been established in our systems of jurisprudence for the enforcement
and protection of private rights. |
Dry sand beach |
Sandy area between the mean high tide line and the vegetation line. |
E |
|
Easement |
A right of use over the property of another. |
Eminent domain |
The authority of the state or sovereign to take private property for
public use. Eminent domain is an inherent attribute of sovereignty. The
individual property owner’s consent to the taking is immaterial.
The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires that just compensation
be made whenever private property is taken for public use. |
Enumerated powers |
Those federal authorities specified in the U.S. Constitution.
Does not apply to powers of external sovereignty which do not depend
upon the affirmative grants of the Constitution. |
Erosion |
The gradual and imperceptible washing away of the land by natural causes. |
Equal footing doctrine |
Provides that new states are admitted to the Union on an equal footing
with the original states with certain sovereign and property rights
such as the ownership of lands beneath tidelands and navigable freshwaters. |
Equal Protection |
The constitutional guarantee embodied in the Fourteenth Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution, which states that “No state
shall . . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection
of the laws.” |
Exaction |
The wrongful act of an officer or other person in compelling payment
of a fee or reward for his services, under color of official authority,
where no payment is due. |
F |
|
Foreshore |
The strip of land between the ordinary high and low water marks that
is alternately covered and uncovered by the flow of the tide. Often used
synonymously with "wet sand beach." |
Freshwaters |
Waters that do not ebb and flow with the tide. The determinative factor
is that the water body does not ebb and flow with the tide, not whether
or not the water contains salt. |
|
Return to Top
| A-F | H-P | R-W
| |
H |
|
Harbor Line |
The line beyond which wharves and other structures cannot be extended. |
J |
|
Judicial review |
Power of courts to review decisions of another department or level
of government. |
Jus privatum |
The proprietary rights in the use and possession of land beneath tidal
waters and navigable freshwaters. The jus privatum interest
is often held by the state in tandem with the jus
publicum interest,
but may be conveyed in the form of title ownership or lessor freehold
to a private individual or entity. |
Jus publicum |
The collective rights of the public to fully use and enjoy trust lands
and waters for commerce, navigation, fishing, bathing, and other related
public purposes. A state cannot convey the jus publicum interest into
private ownership, nor can it abdicate its trust responsibilities. |
L |
|
License |
A license is ordinarily considered to be a mere personal or revocable
privilege to perform an act or series of acts on the land of another,
but does not operate to confer on, or vest in, the licensee any title,
interest, or estate in such property. |
Littoral |
Associated with or appurtenant to shorelands of tidal waters. As used
herein, the term "littoral" is included in the term "riparian."
These two terms are often used synonymously. |
M |
|
Map |
A printed reproduction of a compilation of one or more topgraphic surveys
drawn to the scale of the original survey or smaller and on a definite
projection. It may include some water area, but basically furnishes
information relative to the land area. |
Meander lines |
Lines run a short distance back from navigable water within a section
in order to determine the quantity of land in the fractional section.
The meander line is generally not a boundary line. |
Mean high tide |
The mean average of all the high tides (high high tides and low high
tides) occurring over a certain period of time, usually 18.6 years (one
lunar epoch). |
Mean low tide |
The mean average of all the low tides (high low tides and low low tides)
occurring over a certain period of time, usually 18.6 years (one lunar
epoch). |
N |
|
Navigation |
Traversing the sea or other navigable waters in ships or vessels. |
Necessity |
To fulfill requirements for easement of right of way of necessity,
the necessity must be actual, real, and reasonable, as distinguished from
inconvenience, but it need not be absolute and irresistible necessity. |
O |
|
Ordinary high water mark |
The line to which high water normally reaches under natural conditions,
but not including floods, storms, or severe meteorological conditions. |
Ordinary low water mark |
The line to which low water normally reaches under natural conditions,
but not including droughts or severe meteorological conditions. |
P |
|
Photogrammetric Survey |
A survey of a portion of land surface utilizing aerial photographs
and reduced to map form by stereoscopic or other instrumental equipment. |
Pier |
A structure extending from solid land out into the water to afford convenient
passage for persons and property to and from vessels alongside the pier;
a projecting wharf. |
Preemption |
Doctrine adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court, holding that certain matters
are of such a national, as opposed to local, character that federal
laws preempt or take precedence over state laws. As such, a state may
not pass a law inconsistent with the federal law. |
Prescriptive easement |
A right to use another’s property that is acquired by a use,
open and notorious, adverse and continuous, for a statutory period.
It resembles title by adverse possession but differs to the extent that
the adverse user acquires only an easement and not title. |
Prima facie Public Trust lands |
Lands that appear to be subject to the Public Trust Doctrine in that
they lay beneath tidal or navigable-in-fact waters below the ordinary
high water mark. |
Private acts |
Legislation for the special benefit of an individual or a locality. |
Privilege |
A particular or peculiar benefit or advantage enjoyed by a person, company,
or class, beyond the common advantages of other citizens. |
Public easement |
An easement enjoyed by the public in general. A “public easement”
carries with it the right to construct and maintain the passageway. |
Public trust servitude |
The bundle of rights held by the public to use and enjoy privately held
trust lands for certain public purposes. The burden on the subordinate
jus privatum owner by the dominant jus
publicum interest of the public. |
|
Return to Top
| A-F | H-P | R-W
| |
R |
|
Reliction |
The gradual and imperceptible withdrawal of water from land that it
covers “by the lowering of its surface level from any cause. If
the retreat of the waters is permanent—i.e.,
not merely seasonal—the owner of the contiguous property acquires
ownership of the dry lands thus created. |
Right of access |
A fundamental riparian right; the right that a riparian owner has of
reaching navigable water, in the absence of otherwise controlling law
limiting such right. |
Riparian |
Associated with or appurtenant to shorelands of non-tidal waters. As
used herein, the term "riparian" includes the term "littoral."
These two terms are often used synonymously. |
Riparian rights |
The rights of an owner of land contiguous to a navigable body of water,
including principally the right of access to the water, the right to accretion
and reliction, and the right to other improvements. |
Right of way |
Term used to describe a right belonging to a party to pass over
land of another. |
S |
|
Shorelands |
General term including tidelands and navigable freshwater shores below
the ordinary high water mark. |
Sovereign immunity |
A judicial doctrine which precludes bringing suit against the government
without its consent. |
Submerged land |
Land lying below tidal waters, seaward of the ordinary low water mark,
including bays, inlets, and other arms of the sea, out to the seaward
boundary of the State. |
Supremacy Clause |
The clause of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, which declares that
all laws made in pursuance of the Constitution and all treaties made
under the authority of the United States shall be the “supreme
law of the land” and shall enjoy legal superiority over any conflicting
provision of a state constitution or law. |
Survey |
The result of field measurements; as distinguished from a map or chart
that results from a compilation. |
Swamp Lands Act |
The act of Sept. 28, 1850, by which Congress granted to the public-land
states then in the Union all the swamp and overflowed lands within the
state that the federal government owned for the purpose of aiding in
reclamation. |
T |
|
Taking |
There is a “taking” of property when government action
directly interferes with or substantially disturbs the owner’s
use and enjoyment of property. |
Tideland |
Land over which the tide ebbs and flows. |
Tidewaters |
Waters that markedly and regularly ebb and flow in response to the gravitational
forces of the moon and sun. |
U |
|
Upland |
Land lying above the "ordinary high water mark." |
W |
|
Wet sand beach |
Area between the ordinary high tide and the ordinary low tide lines. |
Wharf |
An artificial landing place for the purpose of loading or unloading
goods. It may be built out from the upland and form an extension thereof,
or it may be made on land at the water’s edge. |