ncclaymaker
Sr. Member
- Aug 26, 2011
- 370
- 315
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab 1000, A Motorized Power Glider Trike, 17 foot travel trailer behind my Jeep. 4" suction dredge/high banker.
- Primary Interest:
- Prospecting
Public Use Rights
Although riparian owners have certain rights to use water, they do not actually own the water itself. All surface and ground waters are legally "waters of the State." The water, plus the fish and other aquatic life belongs to the State. (There is an exception for fish in private ponds if the fish cannot escape to or enter from public fishing waters.) Even when all of the submerged land under a water body belongs to private owners, the State owns the water, although the riparian owners continue to enjoy their riparian rights.
If the body of water that lies over privately owned submerged land can be navigated by any craft such as a canoe or a raft, then the public has a permanent right to use the water surface for all purposes of recreation and commerce, including fishing, whitewater canoeing, etc. It is not clearly settled whether the public's right to use such water bodies includes the right to wade on the privately owned stream bed for fishing or other recreation. When a stream is so small that it is no longer navigable by smaller craft such as a canoe, there is clearly no public right to wade, fish, or otherwise use or enter upon the stream.
Similarly, there is no public use right for man-made ponds on private property. On water bodies over submerged lands owned by the State (historically navigable waters and tidal waters) the public has a clear right to navigation, fishing, and other recreation on the water, as well as the right to use the foreshore the area between the low and high water lines.
There is no public right to travel over private property to obtain access to streams, lakes, tidal areas or other waters that the public has a right to use. Likewise, the public cannot generally trespass on private property on the banks of a stream, river or lake. Under traditional riparian law, the public had no right to use the dry sand above the high tide mark on coastal beaches. By custom, however, the public has long been allowed to use the dry sand between the dunes and ocean in North Carolina and many other states. With increasing development and public use of beaches, conflicts have sometimes arisen when property owners have tried to exclude the public from the dry sand.
In states other than North Carolina, the courts and legislatures have used various legal approaches to grant the public a formal right to use the dry sand portion of beaches when private property owners have sought to prevent such use. The issue has never been fully tested in North Carolina, but it is likely that the public does have a legal right to make reasonable use of the dry beach between the dunes and the ocean.
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/publicat/arep/waterlaw.html#Public
Although riparian owners have certain rights to use water, they do not actually own the water itself. All surface and ground waters are legally "waters of the State." The water, plus the fish and other aquatic life belongs to the State. (There is an exception for fish in private ponds if the fish cannot escape to or enter from public fishing waters.) Even when all of the submerged land under a water body belongs to private owners, the State owns the water, although the riparian owners continue to enjoy their riparian rights.
If the body of water that lies over privately owned submerged land can be navigated by any craft such as a canoe or a raft, then the public has a permanent right to use the water surface for all purposes of recreation and commerce, including fishing, whitewater canoeing, etc. It is not clearly settled whether the public's right to use such water bodies includes the right to wade on the privately owned stream bed for fishing or other recreation. When a stream is so small that it is no longer navigable by smaller craft such as a canoe, there is clearly no public right to wade, fish, or otherwise use or enter upon the stream.
Similarly, there is no public use right for man-made ponds on private property. On water bodies over submerged lands owned by the State (historically navigable waters and tidal waters) the public has a clear right to navigation, fishing, and other recreation on the water, as well as the right to use the foreshore the area between the low and high water lines.
There is no public right to travel over private property to obtain access to streams, lakes, tidal areas or other waters that the public has a right to use. Likewise, the public cannot generally trespass on private property on the banks of a stream, river or lake. Under traditional riparian law, the public had no right to use the dry sand above the high tide mark on coastal beaches. By custom, however, the public has long been allowed to use the dry sand between the dunes and ocean in North Carolina and many other states. With increasing development and public use of beaches, conflicts have sometimes arisen when property owners have tried to exclude the public from the dry sand.
In states other than North Carolina, the courts and legislatures have used various legal approaches to grant the public a formal right to use the dry sand portion of beaches when private property owners have sought to prevent such use. The issue has never been fully tested in North Carolina, but it is likely that the public does have a legal right to make reasonable use of the dry beach between the dunes and the ocean.
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/programs/extension/publicat/arep/waterlaw.html#Public
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