City of Mobile v. Sullivan Timber Co.

Citations

• 129 F. 298
• 63 C.C.A. 412
• 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4044

Syllabus

<p>L Land under Navigable Waters — Ownership.</p> <p>The state of Alabama, when admitted, into the Union, acquired by the compact the title to the soil below high-water mark under the navigable waters within the limits of the state which had not been previously granted.</p> <p>2. Same — Conveyance—Trusts.</p> <p>By Act Ala. Jan. 31, 1807 (Laws 1866-67, p. 307), granting to the city of Mobile so much of the shore and soil under the Mobile river as was within the city’s boundaries, the city acquired title to the land so conveyed as trustee for the public, and could not convey the same for the benefit of riparian proprietors.</p> <p>3. Same — Implied License — Custom.</p> <p>Where a city held the title to the land under a navigable river within the city’s limits below high-water mark in trust for the public, a custom under which riparian proprietors used the land for the erection of wharves, etc., was not available to support a contention that the city had thereby been divested of its title to the land.</p> <p>4. Same — Estoppel.</p> <p>Where a city held the title to land under a navigable stream in trust for the public, and a river commission was authorized to establish wharves, bulkheads, boom lines, etc., the fact that neither the city nor the commission objected to the construction of expensive works, including bulkheads, etc., in the river, by a riparian proprietor, did not estop the city to deny such proprietor’s right to continue to occupy the same.</p> <p>5. Same — Condemnation.</p> <p>Where a riparian proprietor, with the knowledge of a city holding the title to land under a navigable stream for the benefit of the public, constructed an expensive work, including wharves, booms, bulkheads, etc., on the land, in order to render the river available for use in lumbering operations, and thereafter such proprietor paid taxes and fees to the city for the privilege of erecting and maintaining such structures, the city was only entitled to a restoration of the land so