WHARF. A space of ground artificially prepared for the reception of merchandise from a ship or vessel, so as to promote the convenient loading and discharge of such vessel.
2. At common law, the soil of all tide waters below high-water mark being vested in the crown as the conservator of the public rights of navigation and fishing,the erection of a wharf thereon without the consent of the crown is an encroachment upon thu royal domain of that kind which has been denominated a purpresture, and, as such, may be either abated, or, if more beneficial to the erown, seized and arrested, unless indeed it be likewise a public nuisance. Angell, Tide Wat. 196 ; 1 Anstr. 606 ; 2 Wils. Exch. 101 ; 10 Price, Exch. 350, 378 ; 18 Ves. Ch. 214 ; 2 Story, Eq. Jur. 920 et seq. But if it Ob struct navigation to such a degree as to be a public nuisance, neither the crown nor its grantee has authority to erect or maintain it without the sanetion of an act of parliament. 5 Taunt. 705 ; 8 Ad. & E. 336 ; 4 Barnew. & C. 598 ; 5 Mees. & W, Exch. 327 ; 11 Ad. & E. 223 ; Pheas, Rights of Water, 54. It is not every wharf erected in navigable water, however, which is a nuisance ; for it may be a benefit rather than an injury to the naviga tion ; and it is for the jury to determine, in eaeh particular case, whether such a wharf is a nuisance or not, the question being whether it occasions any substantial hin drance to the navigation of the river by vessels of any description, and not whether it causes a benefit to navigation in general. 2 Stark. 511 ; 1 Carr. & M. 496 ; 4 Ad. & E. 384; 6 id. 143 ; 15 Q. B. 276. Wharves must be assigned in open places only. 1 W. Blackst. 581.
3. In this country, the several states, being the owners of the soil of the tide-waters within their respective territories, may by law au thorize and regulate the erection of wharves thereon, at least until the general government shall have legislated upon the subject. 4 Ga. 26 ; 7 Cush. Mass. 53 ; 2 Harr. & M'H. Md.
244 ; 11 Gill &J. Md. 351. In Massachusetts and Maine, by a colonial ordinance, the pro visions of which are still recognized as the law of those states, the property of the shores and flats between high and low water mark, for one.hundred rods, subject to the rights of the public, was transferred to the owners of the upland, who may, therefore, wharf out to that distance, if by so doing they do not unreasonably interrupt navigation. 1 Cush. Mass. 313, 395 ; 3 id. 9 ; 7 id. 53 ; 6 Mass. 435 ; 17 id. 413 ; 13 Piek. Mass. 255 ; 17 id. 357 ; 9 Me. 42 ; 36 id. 16 ; 39 id. 451; 40 id. 31 ; 42 id. 9. If without legislative sanction they extend a wharf beyond that distance, such extension is prima facie a nuisance, and will be abated as such, unless it can be shown that it is no material detriment to naviga tion. 3 Am. Jur. 185 ; Angell, Tide-Wat. 206 ; 20 Pick. Mass. 186. In Connecticut, and probably in other states, by the law of the state founded upon immemorial usage, the proprietor of the upland has the right to wharf out to the channel,—subject to the rights of the puhlic. 9 Conn. 38 ; 25 id. 345 ; 16 Pet. 369 ; 1 Dutch. N. J. 525; 6 Ind. 223. In Pennsylvania, the riparian proprietor is held to be the owner of the soil between high and low water mark, and to be entitled to erect wharves thereon. 1 Whart. Penn. 131, 137 ; 2 id. 539.
4. In the great navigable fresh-water rivers of this country, the riparian proprie tors, being the owners of the bed of the stream, have undoubtedly the right to wharf out to the channel,—subject only to the con dition that they do not materially interrupt the navigation. See, generally, 2 Sandf. N. Y. 258 ; 3 id. 487 ; 4 Den. N. Y. 581 ; 3 How. 212 ; 1 Edw. Ch. N. Y. 579 ; 2 id. 220; 1 Sandf. Ch. N. Y. 214 ; 1 Gill & J. Md. 249; 11 id. 351 ; 8 Term, 606.