LEGAL STATUS
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formed by the insensible recession of the sea become the property of the State, unless there is some title or prescriptive right to the contrary—i.e. unless these lands are possessed by virtue of an act of acquisition or by thirty years’ occupation.
   Italy.—Under the Civil Code, ports, harbours, foreshores, and waterways in connection with same, are the property of the Crown. This principle is based upon that of Roman law, whereby property essential to public utility cannot become the exclusive property of anyone, but is vested in the State. Owing to the difference between tidal conditions in the Mediterranean and the Ocean, the period for the observation of delimitation between private and public ownership in the former case is that of winter, when tidal range is at its maximum. The foreshore comes under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Finance, its use and control under the Minister of Marine, and all works affecting it must be sanctioned by the Minister of Public Works. Sand and shingle can only be removed with official consent. In the event of either recession or erosion of a coast-line, the transformed foreshore becomes Crown property. A landowner whose land is washed away has no redress against the State, unless such encroachment is due to dredging or the removal of protective embankments, when those responsible for the damage would be legally liable.
   Denmark.—Foreshores are private property: their control is in the hands of adjoining landowners.
   Norway.—The Danish rule holds good, private rights extending, moreover, to a depth 2 metres below low water.
   United States.—In the United States the legal status of the foreshore is subject to the varying law of particular States. In the States of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts the law provides that private ownership on the foreshore extends to low-water mark, where the sea does not ebb more than 100 rods, but not beyond this limit, subject, however, to the rights of navigation. Littoral proprietors may thus exclude navigation from their own flats by building wharves or other structures to low-water mark, and it has been held that they may fill up their frontage, and thus prevent the ebb and flow of the tide, without