32 A. 166 | R.I. | 1895
A riparian proprietor whose land borders upon tide water has, by the common law, certain private rights to the shore between high and low water mark. These do not amount to seizin in fee, but are in the nature of franchises or easements. East Haven v.Hemingway,
The State holds the legal fee of all lands below high water mark as at common law, as has been uniformly and repeatedly decided by this court. Bailey v. Burges, supra; Engs v.Peckham,
The establishment of a harbor line permits the riparian owner to carry the upland or high water mark out a certain distance from the natural shore. Actual extension of the upland to the new line extinguishes all public rights within it. The land which was formerly shore becomes upland and while the rights to shore and upland are not changed, they are carried further out into the tidal stream, or sea. Engs v. Peckham,
Shell fisheries are public rights which may be regulated for the public good; State v. Cozzens,
The public right of fishery is paramount to the private right to cut grass or sedge. Bagott v. Orr, 2 Bos. Pul. 472;Parker v. Cutler Milldam Co.,
The instructions of the judge before whom the case was tried were erroneous in affirming that it was a trespass in the defendant to disturb the plaintiff's thatch in digging clams.
A new trial must be granted.