Public trust doctrine
Encyclopedia
The public trust doctrine is the principle
that certain resources
are preserved for public
use, and that the government
is required to maintain them for the public's reasonable use.
of the Roman Emperor
Justinian held that the seashore
not appropriated for private use was open to all. This principle became the law in England as well. In the Magna Carta
in England
centuries later public rights were further strengthened at the insistence of the nobles
that fishing
weir
s which obstructed free navigation
be removed from river
s.
These rights were further strengthened by later laws in England and subsequently became part of the common law
of the United States
as established in Illinois Central Railroad v. Illinois
, 146 U.S. 387 (1892). In that case the Illinois Legislature had granted an enormous portion of the Chicago
harbor to the Illinois Central Railroad
. A subsequent legislature sought to revoke the grant, claiming that original grant should not have been permitted in the first place. The court held that common law public trust doctrine prevented the government from alienating the public right to the lands under navigable waters (except in the case of very small portions of land which would have no effect on free access or navigation).
In subsequent cases it was held that this public right extended also to waters which were influenced by the tides regardless of whether or not they were strictly navigable. This concept also has been found to apply to the natural resources (mineral or animal) contained in the soil and water over those public trust lands.
, and natural resource law.
line. Massachusetts
and Maine
(which share a common legal heritage) allow private ownership as far as the mean low water line but allow for public rights to fishing, fowling and navigation (with the necessary permits). These two states are the most restrictive of public rights and represent the exception. Most states allow free access to the intertidal zone
for walking, swimming, sunbathing, etc. This does not always include the right to cross private land to reach the shore but prevents private owners from excluding the public below the mean high tide line. This line is calculated as the average high tide line of a 14.1 year cycle which means in practical terms that neither property owners nor the public are likely to be able to identify its precise location. The burden of proof therefore falls to the property owner as it would be trespass
ing for the public to willfully cross above the mean high tide line but not to miscalculate its location.
See also related issue: Navigable servitude
in those areas where land beneath tidally influenced waters has been filled. In some cases, the uses of that land have been limited (to transportation, for instance) and in others, there has been provision for public access across them.
The doctrine has been employed to assert public interest in oil resources discovered on tidally influenced lands (Mississippi
, California
) and has also been used to prevent the private ownership of fish stocks and crustacean beds.
In most states in the United States, lakes and navigable-in-fact streams are maintained for drinking and recreation purposes under a public-trust doctrine.
, the National Audubon Society, and other advocates for the lake. Expanding the ancient doctrine to include recreational and aesthetic values and the importance of the lake to wildlife, the Court decreed that Mono Lake has "public trust values" that the state has an obligation to maintain. In the words of the Court, "The public trust...is an affirmation of the duty of the state to protect the people's common heritage of streams, lakes, marshlands and tidelands."
The Court ruled that the water rights of Los Angeles and the public trust values of Mono Lake had to be more fairly balanced, and that the water rights of the City of Los Angeles would have to be revisited to assure proper public trust protections. The Mono Lake Committee has been working since 1978 to achieve this balance.
Principle
A principle is a law or rule that has to be, or usually is to be followed, or can be desirably followed, or is an inevitable consequence of something, such as the laws observed in nature or the way that a system is constructed...
that certain resources
Natural resource
Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....
are preserved for public
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...
use, and that the government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
is required to maintain them for the public's reasonable use.
Origins
The ancient lawsRoman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...
of the Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Justinian held that the seashore
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
not appropriated for private use was open to all. This principle became the law in England as well. In the Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
centuries later public rights were further strengthened at the insistence of the nobles
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
that fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
weir
Weir
A weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream. In most cases weirs take the form of a barrier across the river that causes water to pool behind the structure , but allows water to flow over the top...
s which obstructed free navigation
Navigation
Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
be removed from river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s.
These rights were further strengthened by later laws in England and subsequently became part of the common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as established in Illinois Central Railroad v. Illinois
Illinois Central Railroad v. Illinois
The Supreme Court decision in Illinois Central Railroad v. Illinois, 146 U.S. 387 , reaffirmed that each state in its sovereign capacity holds permanent title to all submerged lands within its borders and holds these lands in public trust. This is a foundational case for the Public Trust Doctrine...
, 146 U.S. 387 (1892). In that case the Illinois Legislature had granted an enormous portion of the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
harbor to the Illinois Central Railroad
Illinois Central Railroad
The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa...
. A subsequent legislature sought to revoke the grant, claiming that original grant should not have been permitted in the first place. The court held that common law public trust doctrine prevented the government from alienating the public right to the lands under navigable waters (except in the case of very small portions of land which would have no effect on free access or navigation).
In subsequent cases it was held that this public right extended also to waters which were influenced by the tides regardless of whether or not they were strictly navigable. This concept also has been found to apply to the natural resources (mineral or animal) contained in the soil and water over those public trust lands.
Application
This doctrine has been primarily significant in two areas: land access and useLand use
Land use is the human use of land. Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as fields, pastures, and settlements. It has also been defined as "the arrangements, activities and inputs people undertake in a certain land cover...
, and natural resource law.
Navigable waters
It is most often invoked in connection with access to the seashore. In the United States, the law differs among the fifty states but in general limits the rights of ocean front property below the mean high tideTide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
line. Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
(which share a common legal heritage) allow private ownership as far as the mean low water line but allow for public rights to fishing, fowling and navigation (with the necessary permits). These two states are the most restrictive of public rights and represent the exception. Most states allow free access to the intertidal zone
Intertidal zone
The intertidal zone is the area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide . This area can include many different types of habitats, with many types of animals like starfish, sea urchins, and some species of coral...
for walking, swimming, sunbathing, etc. This does not always include the right to cross private land to reach the shore but prevents private owners from excluding the public below the mean high tide line. This line is calculated as the average high tide line of a 14.1 year cycle which means in practical terms that neither property owners nor the public are likely to be able to identify its precise location. The burden of proof therefore falls to the property owner as it would be trespass
Trespass
Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels and trespass to land.Trespass to the person, historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding, mayhem, and maiming...
ing for the public to willfully cross above the mean high tide line but not to miscalculate its location.
See also related issue: Navigable servitude
Navigable servitude
Navigable servitude is a United States constitutional doctrine that gives the federal government the right to regulate navigable waterways as an extension of the Commerce Clause of Article I, Section 8 of the constitution. It is also sometimes called federal navigational servitude.The Commerce...
Natural resources
The doctrine has also been used to provide public access across and provide for continued public interestPublic interest
The public interest refers to the "common well-being" or "general welfare." The public interest is central to policy debates, politics, democracy and the nature of government itself...
in those areas where land beneath tidally influenced waters has been filled. In some cases, the uses of that land have been limited (to transportation, for instance) and in others, there has been provision for public access across them.
The doctrine has been employed to assert public interest in oil resources discovered on tidally influenced lands (Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
) and has also been used to prevent the private ownership of fish stocks and crustacean beds.
In most states in the United States, lakes and navigable-in-fact streams are maintained for drinking and recreation purposes under a public-trust doctrine.
The public trust doctrine at Mono Lake, California
Mono Lake, an ancient saline lake in California's Eastern Sierra, was long threatened by the diversion of its tributary streams south to Los Angeles. In 1983 the California Supreme Court ruled in National Audubon Society v. Superior Court that Mono Lake is a public trust resource of the state of California. This was an important victory for the Mono Lake CommitteeMono Lake Committee
The Mono Lake Committee is an environmental organization based in Lee Vining, California in the United States. Its mission is to preserve Mono Lake, by reducing diversions of water from the Eastern Sierra watersheds by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power .The Committee was founded in...
, the National Audubon Society, and other advocates for the lake. Expanding the ancient doctrine to include recreational and aesthetic values and the importance of the lake to wildlife, the Court decreed that Mono Lake has "public trust values" that the state has an obligation to maintain. In the words of the Court, "The public trust...is an affirmation of the duty of the state to protect the people's common heritage of streams, lakes, marshlands and tidelands."
The Court ruled that the water rights of Los Angeles and the public trust values of Mono Lake had to be more fairly balanced, and that the water rights of the City of Los Angeles would have to be revisited to assure proper public trust protections. The Mono Lake Committee has been working since 1978 to achieve this balance.
See also
- Public trustPublic trustThe concept of the public trust relates back to the origins of democratic government and its seminal idea that within the public lies the true power and future of a society; therefore, whatever trust the public places in its officials must be respected....
- Public goodPublic goodIn economics, a public good is a good that is non-rival and non-excludable. Non-rivalry means that consumption of the good by one individual does not reduce availability of the good for consumption by others; and non-excludability means that no one can be effectively excluded from using the good...
- Public spacePublic spaceA public space is a social space such as a town square that is open and accessible to all, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age or socio-economic level. One of the earliest examples of public spaces are commons. For example, no fees or paid tickets are required for entry, nor are the entrants...
- Public propertyPublic propertyPublic property is property, which is dedicated to the use of the public. It is a subset of state property. The term may be used either to describe the use to which the property is put, or to describe the character of its ownership...
- Freedom to roam
- M. C. Mehta v. Kamal NathM. C. Mehta v. Kamal NathM. C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath was a landmark case in Indian environmental law. In the case, the Supreme Court of India held that the public trust doctrine applied in India.-Facts of the case:...
External links
- Patrick S. Ryan, Application of the Public-Trust Doctrine and Principles of Natural Resource Management to Electromagnetic Spectrum. Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2004.
- James L. Huffman, Ph.D., "Fish Out of Water: The Public Trust Doctrine in a Constitutional Democracy " Issues in Legal Scholarship, Joseph Sax and the Public Trust (2003): Article 6.
- "Restoring The Trust: Water Resources & The Public Trust Doctrine, A Manual For Advocates" by the Center for Progressive Reform, September 2009