State v. Cleveland-Pittsburg Ry.

Citations

• 25 Ohio C.C. Dec. 630
• 21 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 1

Syllabus

<p>RIPARIAN OWNERS.</p> <p>1. State Holds Title in Trust to Waters of Lake Erie and Soil Thereunder Within State Boundaries.</p> <p>The state of Ohio holds the title to the soil under Lake Erie, within its boundaries, as it does to the waters thereof over said soil, in trust, however, for the purposes of navigation and fishing.</p> <p>2. Right of State to Regulate Navigation and Fishing Subject to Federal Navigation Regulations.</p> <p>The United States government has the paramount right to fix the line of navigation in said lake, hut within that line so fixed by it and between it and the shore the state has the right to regulate navigation and fishing, so long as it does nothing to conflict with the regulations of the federal government, or the access of the riparian owner to navigable water.</p> <p>3. Riparian Municipal Owner has Right'to Wharf Out and Make Land to Line of Navigability.</p> <p>Until the state otherwise determines by appropriate legislation, it will be held to have acquiesced in the line of navigation fixed by the United States, and the owner of land fronting on Lake Erie has the right to wharf out and make land to the line of navigability so fixed, and this right pertains to every foot of the shore -property.</p> <p>[Syllabus by the court.]</p>