Lawrence v. Clark County

OPINION

By the Court,

Saitta, J.:

This appeal concerns whether state-owned land that was once submerged under a waterway can be freely transferred to respondent Clark County, or whether the public trust doctrine prohibits such a transfer. Generally, under the public trust doctrine, a state holds the banks and beds of navigable waterways in trust for the public and subject to restraints on alienability. Although the public trust doctrine has never expressly been adopted in Nevada, this court has previously applied some of its tenets and its existence is implicit in Nevada law.

Thus, in this…