State, Department of Natural Resources v. Alaska Riverways, Inc.

OPINION

FABE, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

We are called upon today to decide whether the State of Alaska has the authority to require private parties who construct wharves into adjacent navigable waters to enter into leases. The answer to this question depends on whether the common law right to construct a wharf in front of one’s property, which was recognized in territorial days, has given way to the right of the state to require a lease on behalf of all Alaskans for the exclusive use of state-owned land.

We conclude that the Alaska Constitution and the Alaska Land Act have modified the common-law…