Stevens v. Paterson & Newark Railroad
Supreme Court of New Jersey
In error to the Essex Circuit. The suit below was in case. The declaration stated that the plaintiff was the owner in possession of a certain tract of laud adjoining to the Passaic river, and that said river was .a public navigable river, and in it the tide ebbed and flowed; that the plaintiff had enjoyed free access from his lands to the river, for the purpose of washing, bathing, watering his cattle, and for fishing and navigation ; and that the defendants have placed…
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In error to the Essex Circuit. The suit below was in case. The declaration stated that the plaintiff was the owner in possession of a certain tract of laud adjoining to the Passaic river, and that said river was .a public navigable river, and in it the tide ebbed and flowed; that the plaintiff had enjoyed free access from his lands to the river, for the purpose of washing, bathing, watering his cattle, and for fishing and navigation ; and that the defendants have placed obstructions along the entire water front of said lands, consisting of piles, timbers, and stones, &c., whereby the access…
1Dissent
The Chancellor
(dissenting.) The main question in this case which we are called upon to decide, and which has been so fully argued is, whether the owner of lands bounding on navigable tide, waters has any right either in the shore, or to have his land retain its natural connection with, and adjacency to those waters, which cannot be taken from him without compensation.
The question is an important one, and its consequences of great moment. On the one hand, every owner of lands on such waters who has purchased and held them in the belief that this adjacency to the water added to their value, and…
2Cases cited7 opinions
- Lansing v. SmithCourt for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors · 1829
- Monongahela Navigation Co. v. CoonsSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1843
- Lansing v. SmithNew York Supreme Court · 1828
- RUNDLE v. Delaware and Raritan Canal CompanySupreme Court of the United States · 1853
- Bowman v. WathenDistrict Court, D. Indiana · 1841
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