Great pond (law)

Great pond (law)

A great pond is a pond or lake that is held in trust by the state for public use. Generally, any natural body of water that is larger than 10 acres in size is public water. In certain New England states, this legal definition exists at both common law and statutory law.

History

As is often the case in the United States, the "law of great ponds" descended from early English common law. In 1890, Charles Doe, Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, described the development of the law of great ponds in "Concord Mfg. Co. v. Robertson", a case concerning the rights of individuals to cut and remove ice from a pond adjacent to land they had leased, subsequently reducing the flow of water at a downstream mill. The rights of the ice harvesters and mill owners turned on the question of who owned the water in the pond. In the opinion, Chief Justice Doe stated that " [t] ide waters and large ponds are public waters. Whatever exceptions, if any, may be found, this is the rule."Concord Mfg. Co. v. Robertson, 25 A. 718, 719 (N.H. 1890).]

The English rule used to distinguish between public and private waters was based on the limit of the tide, for those waters that were navigable were subject to admiralty jurisdiction. In the U.S., this rule had been extended to include navigable fresh water "reasonably capable of valuable use as a public way.""Id." at 720.] However, it was not always clear that a pond – isolated from the ocean or a navigable river, but otherwise in the public domain – was reserved for public use. Furthermore, the ability to hunt and fish on public lands had been denied to citizens during feudal times, and that "system of legal inequality in the enjoyment of public property" was precisely what the colonists sought to avoid."Id."] Thus, a new rule defining public waters needed to be established that was not based on the navigability of the waters.

By the English rule thus modified, the legal title of New Hampshire land was in the king, who held it as trustee in his official and representative capacity, with no private interest. The dry land, and the soil under fresh rivers, brooks, and small ponds, was convertible, by his grant, into private property, for settlement, and for the advancement of the common welfare. The seashore, arms of the sea, and large ponds, by reason of their special adaptation to public uses, were set apart and reserved as public waters. They could not be converted into private estate or subjected to a private easement, by the trustee's grant, or by any act of the executive branch of the government. The distinction is between what the trustee held for public use and what he held for the purpose of sale or other appropriation to private use for the public benefit.
In 1647 the want of a definition of “great ponds” was supplied,. . . that no town shall appropriate to any particular person or persons any great pond containing more than ten acres of land, and that no man shall come upon another's propriety [sic] without their leave."Id." at 729.]

Maine

A great pond is defined in Maine state statute as "any inland body of water which in a natural state has a surface area in excess of 10 acres (40,000 m²) and any inland body of water artificially formed or increased which has a surface area in excess of 30 acres (120,000 m²) except for the purposes of this article, where the artificially formed or increased inland body of water is completely surrounded by land held by a single owner." [ [http://janus.state.me.us/legis/statutes/38/title38sec436-a.html Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. 38, § 436-A.] ]

The term "great pond" originally derives from colonial statutes pre-dating Maine's separation from Massachusetts. Special statutory regulations apply to land adjacent to great ponds for the purposes of shoreland protection and timber harvesting. Maine state law provides for public access for specific purposes to the surface waters of "great ponds." Fact|date=September 2007

Massachusetts

A great pond is defined in Massachusetts statutes as a pond or lake that is in its natural state at least ten acres in size. This includes ponds that were at one time ten or more acres but are now smaller.cite web|url=http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/resources/grtpond.htm |title=MassDEP Great Pond List |accessdate=2008-03-28 ]

New Hampshire

In New Hampshire, public waters are defined by common law to include all natural ponds of more than 10 acres. In addition to the common law definition of great ponds, similar definitions can be found in the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated, for example, in the [http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/RSA/html/L/482-A/482-A-21.htm Wetlands Act, RSA 482-A:21.]

References

External links

* [http://www.des.nh.gov/Dam/DamRemoval/List_of_Public_Waters.pdf Official List of Public Waters, N.H. Dept. of Envt'l Svcs.]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Great Pond (disambiguation) — Great Pond may refer to: *Great Pond, a pond in Maine. *Great Pond, Maine *Great Pond, a lake in New Hampshire. *Great pond (law), a legal term defining public waters …   Wikipedia

  • pond — A body of stagnant water without an outlet, larger than a puddle and smaller than a lake; or a like body of water with a small outlet. @ Great ponds In Maine and Massachusetts, natural ponds having a superficial area of more than ten acres, and… …   Black's law dictionary

  • Great Lawn and Turtle Pond, Central Park — The Great Lawn and Turtle Pond, Central Park, occupy the almost flat site of the intractably [In Egbert Viele s rejected plan for Central Park, of which the inadequacies prompted the design competition of 1857 58, the civil engineer considered… …   Wikipedia

  • Great Lawn — 40° 46′ 53″ N 73° 57′ 59″ W / 40.78135, 73.96648 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Pond Creek, Oklahoma — Infobox Settlement official name = Pond Creek, Oklahoma settlement type = City nickname = motto = imagesize = image caption = image mapsize = 250px map caption = Location of Pond Creek, Oklahoma mapsize1 = map caption1 = subdivision type =… …   Wikipedia

  • Spy Pond — Infobox lake lake name = Spy Pond image lake = Spy pond frozen sunset.jpg caption lake = Sunset in the winter image bathymetry = caption bathymetry = location = Arlington, Massachusetts coords = coord|42|24|28|N|71|09|22|W|type:waterbody… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit characters — The cast of the thirteenth season (2011–2012). From left to right: Dann Florek, Danny Pino, Mariska Hargitay, Kelli Giddish, Richard Belzer, and Ice T. Law Order: Special Victims Unit, a spin off of the crime drama Law O …   Wikipedia

  • Hazel Creek (Great Smoky Mountains) — Hazel Creek is a tributary stream of the Little Tennessee River in the southwestern Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. The creek s bottomlands were home to several pioneer Appalachian communities and logging towns before its incorporation… …   Wikipedia

  • Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts — Jamaica Plain, commonly known as JP , is a historic neighborhood of 4.4 sq. miles in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Founded by Boston Puritans seeking farm land to the south, it was originally part of the city of Roxbury.… …   Wikipedia

  • King John's Palace — viewed from the south east King John s Palace, King s Clipstone is the remains of a once magnificent medieval royal palace in north west Nottinghamshire. The name King John s Palace has been used since the 18th century, prior to that the site was …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”