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Legislative Council Chamber, APRIL 23, 1868.

“ ESOINI‘JD. That it be recommended to the Govern-

li ment to cause the following Report to be printed

once in the Rog/(ll Gazette iiOiVSpaper of this Island.

and that its further consideration be deferred until next

Session.

JOHN BALL, 0. L. c.

Your Committee. to whom was referred two petitions touching the right of collecting Sea \Veed on the shores of this lslaiid, the one in favor of' the shores being thrown open to the. public. the other from persons for the niOst part residing on the shore farms. claiming a "just and legal” right to “ the sea Weed cast up and lodged tinder ” their shores.

As the question raised by the Petitioners inwflves so materially the rights of property, and there does not appear to your committee to have been in this country any judicial decision on the pure question of the right of the public to this production of the sea. in cases where the article is lodged, clearly and obviously. between, high and low water mark. and being claimed by a stranger, but resisted by the owner of" the adjoining Lind. increr on the grounds of the sea Weed being lodged on the shore which fronts or adjoins his land, therefore, your cmnmittee hare though it best to examine into and declare. as far as they feel tlieniselVes compe- tent to do so, the law b airing on the case under coiisid- eration, which, they conceive, is as follows:

lly the common law of England, the sea shore is dcfincd to be that space of' the land which, covered with vatcr at high tides, is dry at low titles, and. therefore. bounded land- wards by high4vater mark, and outward by low-water mark. In this di-fiiii'ion, high—water mark does not mean the high-water of spiing tides; it means the line or mark dcnotcd by an ayerage of the map or ordinary high tides taken tlirctighout the year, when they are not. affected by the full or change of the moon, This definition applie< to the shore of an arm of the sea, that is, where the tide flows and reflows, as well as to the slioi‘t‘ of' the sea or (J‘rulf'itsclf'. The question raised as to the right to sea weed and kelp. rc- lates to these substances when left by the action of the sea on the sea-shore as thus defined. This right must, there- fore, in a great, measure, it' not, wholly, depend on the Owner- ship of the sea-shore. Now. by the law ot: England, the right of proprcty in the soil of the sea shore is vested in the Sovereign, not for his private or exclusive use, but to be neld and protected for the use and hem-lit of the public, in such manner as the law of' nature. adopted by the common law of England, admits of. As the, policy of the common law is to assign to all property capable of occupancy a legal and certain prOprietor, it makes those things winch, from their nature, ~annot he (‘J'i't’tis/I'rly occupied and c‘i‘ijoycd. the property of the Sovereign. “To the lung ot dangland is, therefore. not only assigned the sovereign dominion of tile sea adjoining the coasts, and over the arms of the. sea, but him is also vested the right of' property in the sod thereof; but still. the legal maxim is, New [It cu, {robot proprietam. Red populus Int/mt usam ibideni ncccssizrmm; the king has the property, but the people have the use necessary,

Should the King, therefore, by Virtue of his prero— gative, make a grant of the sea shore, the grantee would have to take it subject to the rights of' the public, as previously held by the lime. In England, the sea shore is frequently held by the Lord of a manor. as part of the grant of the manor, and when held by a proprio- tor deriving title under grant, or other legally authorized title, such proprietor 3: bound to permit the sea-shore to be used by the public for all the purposes, and just as they could use it while it was held by the sovereign ;-.——for in- stance, the free navigation of' the water flowmg over it where- ever the tide admits ; the landing thereon With vessels and boats to discharge their cargoes and goods, and to convpy them to any right of way connected therewith ; th'e‘sctiilre ii ing for and carrying away live shell-fish, or other fish, ( or alive, that may be found thereon, that is, where no person had, by lawful grant or prescription, an exclusnc right to take the same liin for his own use.

Touching the right to sea Weed and kelp lodged on the sea-shore, substances of this nature do not appear to be placed on the same tooting as shell-fish, and the instances on record where the right to these production—2'. 0-. M?“ weed, kelp. &c., has been disputed, are very rare. In no case that your Committee can find has it been decided, by any judicial tribunal, that the public have a right to them.

Your Committee are aware that, in the year 1820, upon an appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy (‘ouncil in England. from the Island of Jersey, (the case of L’cncst (:8. Pip/m), a question was decided relative to the right to sea weed, or, as it is in that Colony termed. crate. It wa growing seaweed, and cut and carried away from certain rocks dry at low water. The rocks were claimed as part of the estate of the party Pijion. alleged to have been held by him and his ancestors from time immemorial. and the craft". or sea weed, was claimed by the party ,Bcizcst. under an al» leged right to take it as belonging to the inhabitants of the Island in common. In this case, although it was laid down by the Privy Council that the common law of” England was in force in Jersey, yet it appeared that I’z'pon partially fail- ed in the proof of the exclusive right he set up, and there were some local acts or ordinances of Jersey which gave the inhabitants a right to take the sea weed under certain rules, and the decision of the Privy Council was, in that case, ad- verse to Pipon.

In the year 1833, however, a case was brought in the Court of King's llench in Ireland. wherein it was decided that, at common law, the public had not the right of' taking sea weed from the sea shore, where it was opposed by the person owning the adjoining estate. In this Colony, it Would appear to your Committee. the right to the sea shore will be found in the sovereign. except such parts of it as may be included Within the boundaries of the 'l‘ownships of land as granted originally to the proprietors of lands. Those 'l‘ownships which have their front on the sea coast will not likely include the. sea-shore. while some 'l‘ownm ships, as would appear by the map of the Island, incluth wuliin their boundaries navigable rivers and arms of the sea; in these the sea shore would, as a consequence, be vested in their proprietors by the original grants. As nearly all of the grants of the 'I‘ownsbips arc ri-gistcrcd in this Island their descriptions and limits can be casil" ascer- tained. Assuming that the 'l'ownships generally do not iii- cludc the sea-shore as part of the grant to the proprietors. and that this part of the Island remains in the Soveicign, the right to sea Weed lodged between high and low water mark would depend on the common law of'England. which, as your Committee haveobsched does not admit of it, wlu'n thus lodged, being taken up by the public. and rather leaves it to be inferred that the article would belong to the owner of the adjoining land.

In the. United St: tcs of America. the question of cwncr~ ship to sea weed cast on the sea-shore has frequently been tried by a judicial tribunal, and by the American construc- tion of the common law of England, it has been adjudged, in scvcml States, to belong to the owner of the adjoining land. This has been decided on the principle of the law of Allum’mi, or imperceptible increase to the land adjoining the sea-shore, produced by the action of the sea slowly and gradually \ 'ashing up sand. earth, 8:0,, and thereby iiicrcasu ing the adjoining land, which land, gained by such slow and imperceptible increase, becomes the estate of the owner of that; to which it attaches itself, thereby deeming the sea weed. to be one of these increments which belong to the ad- joining land, and cannot be taken or appi‘opi'iatttl by strangers.

Your Committee would, therefore, recommend that no further action be taken on the matter this session, beyond getting a copy of this Report published in the Roz/(:1 Goalie.

rflv. ..

Executors’ Notice. LL persons having claims against the Estate of tho LL late James McCorinack. of (aleorgetown. are. re. quested to furnish the same, duly attested, with" in Three Months from date, and those indebted to the said Estate are hereby requested tolnialm iniiiiediaito payment to either of the l~l.\'eentors. ‘ ‘ MICHAEL IlIqu'lUX, GEORGE. MOI-lit. RONALD MCCORMACK. Georgetown. March it, 1868.