Law Reports, 433, affirming Wilson vs. Forbes, 2 Dev., 30; and Collins vs. Benbury, 3 Iredell, 277; and 5 Iredell, 118. "All waters which are actually navigable for sea vessels, are to be considered as navigable rivers, without regard to the ebb and flow of the tide.

"No one is entitled to the exclusive right of fishing in any navigable water, unless such right be derived from an express grant by the sovereign power, or, perhaps, such a length and kind of possession as will cause a presumption of such grant."

NOTE 50.-PAGE 240.

Statutes as to ordering of Wharves, Piers, and Slips.

Act of October 3, 1691. (1 S. & L., 8.)

This statute was the law of the Colony and the State until the 16th of April, 1787. The latter act was, in its provisions, in the present matter, almost identical with the former.

Act of April 16, 1787. (1 Gr., 441.)

"Whereas, for the encouragement of the trade and commerce of this State, it is necessary that the buildings, streets, wharves, and slips, in the city of New York, should be regulated with uniformity, for the accommodation of inhabitants and shipping, wherefore, to remove all impediments that may retard so necessary a work,

Be it, &c., That it shall and may be lawful to and for

the Mayor, &c., in Common Council convened, from time to time, to make such by-laws, ordinances, rules, and orders, for the better arranging and regulating, with uniformity, such new buildings, as after the passage of this act shall be erected for habitations, or for the purposes of trade and commerce; and also, for regulating and altering the streets, wharves and slips, in such manner as shall be most commodious for shipping and transportation. Also, from time to time, to nominate and appoint two or more discreet persons to be the surveyors of the buildings, streets, wharves, and slips of the said city, whose office and duty it shall be to direct and see that all buildings, wharves, streets, and slips to be laid out or altered in the said city, be regulated with uniformity, &c.

By the second section, if in laying out, for the future, any streets, or wharves, or slips, the Common Council should require for such purposes the ground of any person, they shall give notice, and a jury shall be empanneled, &c.

These two sections were re-enacted almost verbatim, in the act of the 3d of April, 1801. Sections 1 and 2.

And by the 219th section of the act to reduce, &c., April 9, 1813, the substance of these provisions is thus enacted:

It shall be lawful for the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the city of New York, in Common Council convened, to lay out wharves and slips in the said city, whenever and wherever they shall deem it expedient; and if, in so doing, they shall require, for such purposes, the ground of any person or persons, they shall give notice thereof to the owner, or parties interested in such ground, or his, or her, or their agent or legal representative. And, to the end that reasonable satisfaction may be made for all such

ground as shall be necessary for the uses aforesaid, the said Common Council shall and may treat with the owners, or persons interested therein, or his, or her, or their agent or legal representative, and if any such owner or owners shall refuse to treat in manner aforesaid, then, and in such cases, it shall and may be lawful to and for the Mayor or Recorder, and any two or more Aldermen, by virtue of this act, by a precept under their hands and seals, to command the Sheriff of the said city and county of New York, to empannel and return a jury to appear before the Mayor's Court of the said city, at any term thereof, not less than three weeks from the date of such precept, to inquire of and assess the damages and recompense due to the owner or owners of such ground, or his, or her, or their agent or legal representative; and at the same time to summon the owner or owners of such ground, or his, her, or their agent, or legal representative, by notice, to be left at his, her, or their most usual place of abode, to appear before such Mayor's Court, on the day and at the place in such precept to be specified; which jury being first duly sworn, faithfully and impartially to inquire into and assess the premises, shall inquire of and assess such damages and recompense as they shall, under all the circumstances, judge fit to be awarded to the owner or owners of such ground, for their respective losses, according to their several interests and estates therein. And the verdict of such jury, and the judgment of the said Mayor's Court thereupon, and the payment of the sum or sums of money so awarded and adjudged to the owner or owners thereof, or tender and refusal thereof, shall be final and conclusive for all intents and purposes, against the said owner and owners, his, her or their respective heirs, executors, administrat

and assigns, claiming any estate or interest of, in, or to the same ground; and it shall thereupon be lawful to and for the said Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the city of New York, and their successors, to cause the same ground to be converted to and used for the purposes aforesaid.

Piers, Slips, and Wharves.

The provisions as to the laying out the wharves or streets, called South street and West street, in the act of 1798, are before transcribed. They were contained in the first four sections.

In relation to piers and slips, I shall first state each section of the law as it now exists, and then its history.

The 224th section of the act of 1813 is as follows:

It shall and may be lawful for the said Mayor, &c., to direct piers to be sunk and completed, at such distance and in such manner as they, in their discretion, shall think proper, in front of the said streets or wharves so adjoining and extending along the said rivers, and the said piers to be connected with the same by bridges, at the expense of the proprietors of the lots lying opposite to the places where said piers shall be directed to be sunk, and by such days and times as the said Mayor, &c., may, for that purpose, limit and appoint; and if the said proprietors shall neglect or refuse to sink or make the said piers or bridges, according to the direction of the said Mayor, &c., it shall be lawful for the said Mayor, &c., to sink and make the said piers and bridges, at their own expense, and to receive to their

use wharfage for all vessels that may at any time or times lie or be fastened to the said piers, or bridges, which they shall so make as aforesaid [or it shall be lawful for the said Mayor, Aldermen, &c., to grant the right of making such piers and bridges, and the right of receiving the profits thereof, to any person or persons, in fee or otherwise, upon such terms as they shall think proper].

This provision, down to the last passage between brackets, was the fifty-fifth section of the act of 1798, and the seventh section of the act of April 3d, 1801, with slight verbal changes. The clause between brackets was first enacted in the statute of 1806, being the third section of that statute.

The 225th (two hundred and twenty-fifth) section of the act of 1813, is as follows:

"It shall be lawful for the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty to grant to the owners of lots fronting on any of the said streets, of seventy feet, their heirs and assigns, a common interest in the piers to be sunk in front of such streets, in proportion to the breadth of their respective lots, under such restrictions and regulations, and within such limits as the said Mayor, Aldermen, &c., shall deem just and proper."

This provision was first enacted in the eighth (8) section of the act of 3d April, 1801, in exactly the same words. (2 Webster, 129.)

The 226th section of the act of the year 1813 provides :

“That every clause, covenant and condition in the several grants of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the city, to the said proprietors respectively, or those under whom they claim, to be kept, observed, or performed by the grantees respectively, and their respective heirs, executors,