Horace Gray

“ The United States, while they hold the country as a territory, having all the powers both of national and of municipal government, may grant, for appropriate purposes, titles or rights in the soil below high-water mark of tide waters. ”

“ The statutes of that state, at different periods, have either limited grants of land bounded on navigable waters to high-water mark, or have permitted owners of the shore to make entries of the land in front, as far as deep water, for the purpose of a wharf; and any owner of the shore appears to have the right to wharf out, subject to such regulations as the legislature may prescribe for the protection of the public rights of navigation and fishery. ”

“ By the constitution, as is now well settled, the United States, having rightfully acquired the territories, and being the only government which can impose laws upon them, have the entire dominion and sovereignty, national and municipal, federal and state, over all the territories, so long as they remain in a territorial condition. ”

“ Whether, as rules of property, it would not be safe to change these doctrines where they have been applied, as before remarked, is for the several states themselves to determine. If they choose to resign to the riparian proprietor rights which properly belong to them in their sovereign capacity, it is not for others to raise objections. ”

“ Strong, the defendants, being the owners and occupants of a pier extending into Lake Michigan at Racine, in the state of Wisconsin, were sued for cutting the hawser by which the plaintiffs had fastened their vessel to the pier during a storm, in consequence of which she was driven, by the force of the wind and waves, against another pier, and injured. And, as stated in the opinion, the pier appeared to be the private property of the defendants, constructed for their own use; there was no evidence that it constituted any obstruction whatever to the public right of navigation ”

“ Lands under tide waters are incapable of cultivation or improvement in the manner of lands above high-water mark. They are of great value to the public for the purposes of commerce, navigation, and fishery. ”

“ The owner of any land in this state lying upon any navigable stream or other like water, and within the corporate limits of any incorporate town therein, is hereby authorized to construct a wharf or wharves upon the same, and extend such wharf or wharves into such stream or other like water, beyond low water mark, so far as may be necessary and convenient for the use and accommodation of any ships or other boats or vessels that may or can navigate such stream or other like water. ”

“ This court, following, though not resting wholly upon, the decision of the supreme court of New Jersey in Arnold v. Mundy, 6 N. J. Law, 1, gave judgment for the defendants for reasons assigned in the opinion delivered by Chief Justice Taney, which cannot be better summed up than in his own words: 'The country mentioned in the letters patent was held by the king in his public and regal character as the representative of the nation, and in trust for them.' 16 Pet. ”

“ Milwaukee, above cited, disclaimed laying down any invariable rule as to the extent to which wharves and landing places might be built out into navigable waters by private individuals or municipal corporations, and recognized that a state might, by its legislation, or by authority expressly or impliedly delegated to municipal governments, control the construction, erection, and use of such wharves or landings, so as to secure their safety and usefulness, and to prevent their being obstructions to navigation. ”

“ That the people have a public interest, a jus publicum, of passage and repassage with their goods by water, and must not be obstructed by nuisances;' 'for the jus privatum of the owner or proprietor is charged with and subject to that jus publicum which belongs to the king's subjects, as the soil of an highway is, which though in point of property it may be a private man's freehold, yet it is charged with a public interest of the people, which may not be prejudiced or damnified.' Id. ”

“ Blazer, above cited, said that in England, where there were no navigable streams beyond the ebb and flow of the tide, the description of the admiralty jurisdiction as confined to tide waters was a reasonable and convenient one, and was equivalent to saying that it was confined to public navigable waters ”

“ Those acts also provide that when, in the opinion of the president, 'a departure from the ordinary method of surveying land on any river, lake, bayou or watercourse, would promote the public interest,' the land may be surveyed, and sold in tracts of 2 acres in width, fronting on any such water, and running back the depth of 40 acres. ”

“ Keokuk, above cited, as specially applicable to the case, that a person holding land under a patent from the United States, confirming a Mexican grant bounded by the Sacramento river, which was navigable in fact, took no title below the high-water mark, either under the acts of congress or by the local law. ”

“ Railroad Co., 32 Iowa, 106.' 'It is generally conceded that the riparian title attaches to subsequent accretions to the land effected by the gradual and imperceptible operation of natural causes. But whether it attaches to land reclaimed by artificial means from the bed of the river, or to sudden accretions produced by unusual floods, is a question which each state decides for itself. ”

“ The owner of the upland has no right to wharf out without legislative authority; and titles granted in lands under tide water are subject to the right of the state to establish harbor lines. People v. ”