An Exception to the Unusual Accretion Rule. By Jerry Broadus, PLS, Esq. The common law rule that as land along a shoreline increases by accretion, the owner of contiguous upland property may claim the increase has one important exception. Analyzing this exception requires one to determine which of the six justifications for the rule is paramount.
Most courts consider the last justification to be the most important.
The policy of preserving the water access of waterfront land leads to the common law rule that accretion forming along the shoreline of two or more parcels must be apportioned equitably among the parcels. The owner of lot four claimed all of the accretion lying east of his eastern boundary extended north to the new shoreline, and argued that lot three should only gain that accretion lying between the extension of its north and south boundaries, which would grant lot three increased area but very little of the new shoreline. The court disagreed, requiring that the new shoreline be divided proportionately to the amount of shoreline enjoyed by each lot before the accretion. The court's reasoning was that preserving riparian access to the water was far more important to the lots than the value of the area by which each lot was increased. This rule works well enough when accretion forms more or less equally along the waterfront of several adjoining lots.