Hear ye! Hear ye! This river is private property! The Washington Post has an engaging story on how a colonial land grant may limit public access to a river in Virginia.
“In Virginia, the rivers, bays, creeks, ocean shores, and their bottomlands are owned by the state and are legally presumed to be public lands unless they are proven to be subject to a special grant that predates commonwealth law,” explains the Post. “No one knows how many of these old titles, often known as king’s or crown or commonwealth grants, exist, said game and fisheries official Ryan Brown.”
If it is possible to ride in a boat along the river, the property owners cannot prevent others from boating. But apparently they can stop people from wading in the river and fishing, under Virginia law. After you’ve read the Post’s story, check out this very odd ruling from Virginia’s highest court, which closed a section of the Jackson River to public fishing in 1996. The court held that fishing rights were granted to property owners by the King of England, despite the fact that such wording was never included in the grant. The whole case hangs on the meaning of the word “etcetera.”
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