Also known as: navigate · navigates · navigated · navigating · navigation · navigable waters · right of navigation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A quality of waters or channels that permits passage by vessels or vehicles for travel or commerce. The quality determines whether public navigation rights attach under doctrines such as the public-trust doctrine or admiralty jurisdiction.
Northstar Logistics owns waterfront property along a river used by commercial barges. When the state asserts a right to maintain a channel across the property for ongoing vessel traffic, the claim rests on the public-navigation servitude rather than any private servitude. The river qualifies as navigable because vessels routinely pass through it in its natural condition.
East River Steamship charters several large cargo ships. When turbine damage occurs while the vessels sail on the open ocean, the owners sue the manufacturer in admiralty. The claims fall within admiralty jurisdiction because the harm occurred on navigable waters.
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Nollan owns beachfront land. The coastal commission requires a lateral easement along the shore as a permit condition for rebuilding the house. The commission justifies the condition by reference to public rights in navigable waters and the adjacent beach.
Penn Central operates a terminal near the Hudson River. When New York City restricts development to preserve views of the river, the company claims a taking. The Court notes that no property interest exists in the navigable waters themselves.
Zapata contracts with The Bremen to tow an oil rig across the Atlantic. When the rig is damaged, Zapata sues in Florida despite a London forum clause. The Court enforces the clause because the dispute arises from a contract performed on navigable waters.
Exxon Shipping operates a tanker that runs aground and spills oil into Prince William Sound. After a jury awards punitive damages, the Supreme Court reviews the amount. The incident occurred on navigable waters, triggering maritime punitive-damages standards.
Waters are navigable in fact when they are naturally usable for travel or commerce in their ordinary condition. For admiralty jurisdiction the water must support customary modes of interstate or international travel.
No. The public-navigation servitude in land flowed by navigable waters is expressly excluded from the definition of servitudes covered by the Restatement.
A person privileged to navigate navigable waters on another's land may break an enclosure if reasonably necessary to reach the water, but may not break into a dwelling.
When property is seized on navigable waters within admiralty jurisdiction, forfeiture may be enforced by libel in admiralty rather than by a land proceeding.
…is not property); United States v. Chandler-Dunbar Water Power Co. , 229 U. S. 53 (1913) (no property interest can exist in navigable waters); see also Demorest v. City Bank Co. , 321 U. S. 36 (1944); Muhlker v. Harlem R. Co. , 197 U. S. 544 (1905); Sax, Takings and the Police Power, 74 Yale L. J. 36, 61-62 (1964). More…