44-8-2. Rights of adjoining owners in nonnavigable streams; principles when stream is boundary; accretions.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

The beds of nonnavigable streams belong to the owner of the adjacent land. If the stream is a dividing line between two parcels of land, each owner’s boundary shall extend to the thread or the center of the main current of the water. If the current changes gradually, the boundary line follows the current. If from any cause the stream takes a new channel, the original line, if identifiable, remains the boundary. Gradual accretions of land on either side accrue to the owner of that side.

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Orig. Code 1863, § 2207; Code 1868, § 2202; Code 1873, § 2228; Code 1882, § 2228; Civil Code 1895, § 3058; Civil Code 1910, § 3630; Code 1933, § 85-1302.

Cross references

Jurisdiction of county over stream of water which forms boundary of county, § 36-1-2. Diversion, obstruction, or pollution of nonnavigable watercourses as constituting trespass, § 51-9-7.

Law reviews

For article on principles of water law in the southeast, see 13 Mercer L. Rev. 344 (1962).

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t44-ch8-15-(v32)-2022-pdf.pdf, Volume V32, 2022 edition, page 22; merge action: carried; file SHA-256 02e72213893a.