Re: [Paddlewise] Law and Navigation

From: Richard Culpeper <culpeper_at_tbaytel.net>
Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2003 17:01:34 -0400
The law on navigability differs depending on the jurisdiction.

In Ontario, it used to be that navigability was defined in terms of 
commercial navigation, but more recently, has included recreational 
navigation, i.e. do people paddle down it at some time during the 
season.  In obiter, recreational navigation has included cross-country 
skiing.  We have not had a case involving runnable steep rapids and 
falls.  Contact me if you would like me to email you Ontario's leading 
cases on navigability.

All this presupposes that the landowner does not also have riparian 
rights.  Often riparian rights are privately held on rivers in the 
western USA, so you will find some interesting cases out that way. 
 Track down Scott Weiser of Boulder, Colorado, if you want a list of 
cases that trounce paddlers.

Cheers,
Richard Culpeper

Robert Livingston & Pam Martin wrote:

>I am not a lawyer but I thought that the rules about access to navigatable
>waters were very strong.
>
>But I do not know the legal definition of navigatable.
>
[snip]

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Received on Wed Jul 09 2003 - 14:01:31 PDT

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