Seashore

Seashore, or land bordering on the sea, belongs partly to the crown, and the public have certain rights in relation thereto. The soil or property in the foreshore (land between high and low water mark) is vested in the crown, and the limit on the land side is defined to be the medium line of high-water of all the tides in the course of the year, or the height of the medium tides in each quarter of a lunar revolution during the whole year. But though the crown is prima facie the owner of the seashore, the owner of the adjoining manor has sometimes a grant of it, and he may prove this grant by ancient use—such as gathering seaweed, &c. The public have a right to walk on that part of the shore vested in the crown, but they have no right to trespass on the adjacent lands in order to get at the shore, so that it is only where a highway leads to the shore, or the public land from seaward, that the right can be made available. Thus it has been decided that the public have no legal right to trespass on the adjoining lands in order to get to the shore for the purpose of bathing. The public have a right to fish on the seashore if they get legal access to it, and may take all floating fish, but not oysters or mussels which adhere to the rock, if the soil belongs to an individual. The public have no right to gather seaweed or shells, though, as regards the latter, it is of so little consequence that nobody prevents them. Nor have fishermen a right to go on that part of the seashore which is private property to dig sand for ballast, or to dry their nets, or similar purposes, though in a few cases local customs permitting a limited class of persons (e.g. the fishermen of a township) to exercise such rights have been held valid. In Scotland the right to the seashore is also vested in the crown; when a crown grant gives land bounded by the seashore, this is held to give to the grantee the foreshore also. See Stuart A. Moore, History and Law of the Foreshore (3d ed. 1888); and BEACHES (RAISED), DEDUCTION, DERELICT, DRIFT, SAND, UPHEAVL.