Public Easement of The public ha% e the right of passage over all streams which have a capacity for that purpose, and this includes the right of navigation in boats and vessels, and of floatage as in the case of rafts and logs, and of travel over the ice. In com mon law the right to navigate waters above the tide was acquired by using the same. Now it may be granted by express act of legislature, hut it is generally regarded as an inherent pub lic right needing no legislative sanction. The legislatures of the States having jurisdiction and Congress may make rivers and streams public highways for particular purposes when they are not public highways or navigable for other purposes. For instance, the legislature may make a river a public highway for the purpose of floating logs, although it cannot be navigated by boats or vessels.
Use of Banks and Shores.— By the civil law the public have the right to use banks and shores of navigable rivers as appurtenant to the right of passage, and this is true of the States where that system prevails; but under the common law the right to use the shores and banks by navigators was limited to high water mark and the right to pass over the waters does not include the use of banks for general But the public have the right of ring and of mooring on the banks against all except the owners of the banks.. There is no public right at commtin law of towing on the banks. The owners of stranded property may go upon the banks for the purpose of taking it In the use of rivers for navigation, the boats going down stream have a right to the centre of the stream or the centre of the current, and those going up stream must keep to the sides in passing. A descending boat may keep to the shore, but if she meets an ascending boat hugging the same shore and signaling her in• tension of keeping the shore, the boat going down stream must keep to the middle of the river. The rule is for the protection of vessels navigating up and down rivers' crowded with boats to hold to the centre as nearly as possible. The rule both of statute and the general laws of navigation, which requires steamboats ap proaching' one another to turn to the right, ap plies to steamboats crossing a river, and ferry', boats crossing rivers frequent trips are obliged to use great care to avoid other.sailing craft. Steamboats must keep out of the way of barges and Bat boats floating down the river guided only by oars.
Rivera not Navigable of owners.
When a river that is not navigable forms the boundary of property, one-half usually be longs to one proprietor and the other half to the other, the centre of the streant being the line between the owners of the lands on eack side, and when the land oat both sides belongs to one owner he is then the owner of the whole bed of the stream. This rule' of law refers to
the land under the water, and it is the property of the riparian ,owner as mtch as the banks of the river. The owner of the land has not an absolute ownership of the water, but he can use it for necessary purposes, as for the use of Ibis family and house and to water his stock. If be takes more than the usual quantity and for such purposes as are not necessary, he is liable for damages to riparian owners farther down 'the stream in case they suffer damages. One owner of the land cannot change the bed of the stream to the injury of other owners; but if the line be changed slowly by accretion at one side, the line of ownership will still follow the centre of the stream. The rule might be different if, for any unforeseen and uncon trollable cause, the stream should burst its banks and make a new channel in a different place.
Accretions.—The owner of the land along the side of and under a river has the right to all deposits of alluvium along and upon his land. If an island is formed by accretions in an unnavigable stream, the ownership will be determined by the Ilium aquae, or centre of the stream, and it will belong to the persons owning the land on the side of the line on which it is formed. If the island is on the line, each will own his proportionate share.
Bridges.— Congress has power to authorize the erection of bridges over navigable rivers; the power may be exercised and authority given even when the bridges obstruct to a certain extent the free navigation of the rivers. States also have power to authorize the building of bridges over navigable waters within their boundaries, although they may to a certain ex tent interfere with navigation. This power in the States, however, is subject to the exercise of the power of Congress to regulate naviga tion. The proposition has come to be recog nized as not disputable that, but for the power granted by the Constitution to Congress, the State legislatures would have as full and en tire control of the waters of their several States as they have over the land. The States reserve all power not granted to Congress. The sovereignty over the waters of the States vests in Congress and in the several State legisla tures. Congress and the State legislatures can provide for the erection and maintenance of draw-bridges over navigable rivers, and provide for the safe passage of vessels in the draws.