Lord Watson said: ‘It is, in my opinion, practically impossible to lay down any precise rule in regard to the character and amount of possession necessary in order to give a riparian proprietor a prescriptive right to foreshore. Each case must depend on its own circumstances. The beneficial enjoyment of which the foreshore admits, consistently with the rights of navigators and of the general public, is an exceedingly variable quantity . . .. In estimating the character and extent of his possession it must always be kept in view that possession of the foreshore, in its natural state, can never be, in the strictest sense of the term, exclusive. The proprietor cannot exclude the public from it at any time; and it is practically impossible to prevent occasional encroachments on his right, because the cost of preventive measures would be altogether disproportionate to the value of the subject.’
Judges:
Lord Watson, Lord Halsbury, Lord MacNaghten, Lord Fitzgerald (dubitante)
Citations:
(1887) 12 App Cas 544
Cited by:
Cited – Roberts v Swangrove Estates Ltd and Another ChD 14-Mar-2007
The court heard preliminary applications in a case asserting acquisition of land by adverse possession, the land being parts of the foreshore of the Severn Estuary.
Held: A person may acquire title to part of the bed of a tidal river by . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land, Limitation
Updated: 01 May 2022; Ref: scu.267374