Unit 2 - part II Flashcards
What are surface rights?
Ownership rights in a parcel of real estate that are limited to the surface of the earth are called surface right.
What are subsurface rights?
The rights to the natural resources below the earth’s surface are called subsurface rights. An owner may transfer subsurface rights without transferring surface rights, and vice versa.
What are air rights?
Air rights are rights to use the space above the earth and may be sold or leased independently, provided the rights have not been limited by law.
What are water rights?
Water rights are common-law or statutory rights held by owners of land adjacent to rivers, lakes, or oceans and are restrictions on the rights of land ownership.
What are riparian rights?
Riparian rights are common-law rights granted to owners of land along the course of river, stream, or similar flowing body of water.
What are rights for properties with navigable and nonnaviglable waterways?
An owner of the land that borders a nonnavigable waterway, (body of water unsuitable for commercial boat traffic) owns the land under the water to the exact center of the waterway.
Land adjoining commercially navigable rivers is usually owned to the water’s edge, with the state holding title to the submerged land.
Navigable waters are considered public highways in which public has an easement or right to travel.
What are littoral rights?
Littoral rights are rights of owners whose land borders commercially navigable lakes, seas, and oceans. Owners of littoral rights enjoy unrestricted use of available waters but own the land adjacent to the water only up to the average high-water mark. All land below this point is owned by the government.
What is accretion?
Accretion is increases in the land resulting from the deposit of soil by the water’s action.
What is erosion?
Erosion is the gradual and sometimes imperceptible wearing away of the land by natural forces, such as wind, rain, and flowing water.
What is avulsion?
Avulsion is the sudden removal of soil by an act of nature (earthquake, mudslide…).
What is doctrine of prior appropriation?
In states where water is scarce, ownership and use of water are often determined by the doctrine of prior appropriation.
Under this doctrine, the right to use any water, with the exception of limited domestic use, is controlled by the state rather than by the landowner adjacent to the water.
To secure water rights in prior appropriation states, a landowner must demonstrate to a state agency that the owner’s plans are for beneficial use, such as crop irrigation.
The priority of water rights is usually determined by the oldest recorded permit date.
