TITLE 58

PUBLIC LANDS

CHAPTER 12

PUBLIC TRUST DOCTRINE

58-1202.  Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:

(1)  "Beds of navigable waters" means those lands lying under or below the "natural or ordinary high water mark" of navigable waters.

(2)  "Natural or ordinary high water mark" means the line that water impresses on the soil by covering it for sufficient periods to deprive the soil of its vegetation and destroy its value for agricultural purposes. When the soil, configuration of the surface, or vegetation has been altered by man’s activity, the natural or ordinary high water mark shall be located where it would have been if no alteration had occurred.

(3)  "Navigable waters" means those waters that were susceptible to being used, in their ordinary condition, as highways for commerce on the date of statehood, under the federal test of navigability.

(4)  "Private property rights" means the property rights located above the beds of navigable waters.

(5)  "Public trust doctrine" means the common law rule relating to the title to the beds of navigable waters adopted by inference in section 73-116, Idaho Code.

History:

[58-1202, added 1996, ch. 342, sec. 1, p. 1148.]