Muench v. Public Service Commission

We are concerned in this case with the problem of the nature of public rights in the navigable streams of the state and the beds underlying the same, and the protection of such rights. A review of the historical background and a sketching of the development of the recognition of these public rights in the court decisions and statutes of this state should prove to be helpful in passing upon the specific issues presented by the appeals therein.

After the Revolutionary War, the original thirteen states were impoverished and were confronted with the problem of paying the debts created by the war.…