Opinion ID: 1727742
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ownership of the Lake Bed; Use and Control of the Lake Water.

Text: We next address the parties' competing legal claims as to their rights to access the surface waters of the lake for boating and fishing, to fence or otherwise establish physical boundaries on the surface of the lake demarcating their respective claims to ownership of parts of the lake bed, and to drain the water from the lake. As we have noted, the district court concluded the parties have a legal right to go upon and use only the water overlaying the lake bed they own; and consequently, without the consent of the other lake bed owners, the Mortvedts may not go upon or use the water overlaying the plaintiffs' property. The public generally has a right of access to navigable watercourses. See State v. Sorensen, 436 N.W.2d 358, 361-63 (Iowa 1989) (concluding the public trust doctrine requires the State to protect the public's right to use navigable watercourses). Accordingly, if the lake at issue in this case is navigable, the plaintiffs have no right to exclude the Mortvedts from using and enjoying any part of it. The determination of whether a watercourse was navigable at common law depended on the presence or absence of the tidal ebb and flow of water. McManus v. Carmichael, 3 Iowa 1, 3-6 (1856). But the jurisprudence of this country has extended the definition of navigable to refer to watercourses susceptible of use for purposes of commerce or possess[ing] a capacity for valuable floatage in the transportation to market of the products of the country through which it runs. Monroe v. State, 111 Utah 1, 175 P.2d 759, 761 (1946) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Navigable water has been likened to a public highway, McCauley v. Salmon, 234 Iowa 1020, 1022-23, 14 N.W.2d 715, 716 (1944), used or usable as a broad highroad for commerce. Mountain Props., Inc., v. Tyler Hill Realty Corp., 767 A.2d 1096, 1100 (Pa.Super.Ct.2001). The landlocked body of water which is the subject of this case consists of only approximately thirty acres and has never served as a highway of commerce. It has been used primarily for recreational purposes and is clearly non-navigable. The navigable or non-navigable status of a watercourse generally determines whether the bed of a watercourse is owned by the state or by private parties. In Iowa, the legal title to the beds of all navigable lakes to the high-water mark is in the state in trust for the use and benefit of the public. State v. Nichols, 241 Iowa 952, 967, 44 N.W.2d 49, 57 (1950); accord Peck v. Alfred Olsen Constr. Co., 216 Iowa 519, 529, 245 N.W. 131, 136 (1932) (noting the legal title to a navigable lake is in the state). But [i]f a body of water is non-navigable, it is privately owned by those who own the land beneath the water's surface and the lands abutting it, and may be regulated by them. Mountain Props., Inc., 767 A.2d at 1099-1100. The non-navigable lake in this case is thus privately owned by the parties because each of their deeds includes part of the lake bed. We have not previously been asked to decide the fighting issue presented by the parties now before the court: Whether the owner of part of the bed of a non-navigable lake has the legal right to use and enjoy the entire lake, or only that part covering the lake bed described in his deed? The authorities on this issue are divided. The majority rule, often referred to as the common law rule, dictates that one is entitled to exclusive use and enjoyment of that portion of the non-navigable lake covering the lake bed one owns. Wehby v. Turpin, 710 So.2d 1243, 1247 (Ala.1998); Ace Equip. Sales, Inc. v. Buccino, 273 Conn. 217, 869 A.2d 626, 634 (2005); Anderson v. Bell, 433 So.2d 1202, 1204 (Fla.1983); Lanier v. Ocean Pond Fishing Club, Inc., 253 Ga. 549, 322 S.E.2d 494, 496 (1984); Sanders v. De Rose, 207 Ind. 90, 191 N.E. 331, 333 (1934); Black v. Williams, 417 So.2d 911, 912 (Miss.1982); Mountain Props., Inc., 767 A.2d at 1099; Smoulter v. Boyd, 209 Pa. 146, 58 A. 144, 145 (1904); White's Mill Colony, Inc. v. Williams, 363 S.C. 117, 609 S.E.2d 811, 818 (Ct.App.2005); Wickouski v. Swift, 203 Va. 467, 124 S.E.2d 892, 894 (1962); Ours v. Grace Prop., Inc., 186 W.Va. 296, 412 S.E.2d 490, 494 (1991). In jurisdictions following the common law rule, owners of the lake bed may fence off their lake bed to promote their exclusive use and enjoyment. The common law rule thus conforms to the familiar legal maxim cujus est solum, ejus est usque ad coelum et ad inferos  [w]hoever owns the soil owns everything up to the sky and down to the depths. Nichols v. City of Evansdale, 687 N.W.2d 562, 566 (Iowa 2004) (citing Black's Law Dictionary 1712 (8th ed. 2004)). A lesser number of jurisdictions have adopted what has been described as the civil law rule. [1] This rule holds that owners of any part of a non-navigable lake are entitled to reasonable use and enjoyment of the entire surface of the lake, not merely that part covering the bed they own. Duval v. Thomas, 114 So.2d 791, 795 (Fla.1959); Beacham v. Lake Zurich Prop. Owners Ass'n, 123 Ill.2d 227, 122 Ill.Dec. 14, 526 N.E.2d 154, 157 (1988); Beach v. Hayner, 207 Mich. 93, 173 N.W. 487, 488-89 (1919); Snively v. Jaber, 48 Wash.2d 815, 296 P.2d 1015, 1019 (1956). The Mortvedts contend our legislature has codified the civil law rule in Iowa Code chapter 455B. Iowa Code section 455B.262(3) (2003) provides: Water occurring in a basin or watercourse, or other body of water of the state, is public water and public wealth of the people of the state and subject to use in accordance with this chapter, and the control and development and use of water for all beneficial purposes is vested in the state, which shall take measures to ensure the conservation and protection of the water resources of the state. These measures shall include the protection of specific surface and groundwater sources as necessary to ensure long-term availability in terms of quantity and quality to preserve the public health and welfare. Watercourse is defined in the same chapter to include any lake . . . or other body of water or channel having definite banks and bed with visible evidence of the flow or occurrence of water, except lakes or ponds without outlet to which only one landowner is riparian. Iowa Code § 455B.261(17). The Mortvedts assert the lake in this case fits neatly within the definition of a watercourse. The body of water has several riparian land owners, definite banks, and a bed. As it is filled with water at all times, the lake must be said to have a visible occurrence of water. An outlet located in the southwest corner of the lake allows water to escape and flow toward a nearby creek if the volume of water should exceed the capacity of the lake's banks. We conclude the district court correctly rejected the Mortvedts' contention. Chapter 455B expresses the State's policy to protect lives and property from floods and to promote the orderly development, wise use, protection, and conservation of the State's water resources. The statute does not expressly address the nature and extent of the property interests of multiple owners of landlocked non-navigable lakes. We are not persuaded that the legislature intended for chapter 455B to prescribe the relative rights of multiple owners to use and enjoy landlocked privately owned watercourses. In the absence of legislative direction on the issue, we must determine whether the common law rule or the civil law rule should prevail in Iowa. Advocates of the civil law rule claim it is to be preferred because it avoids the difficulties presented by attempts to establish and obey definite property lines. Beacham, 122 Ill. Dec. 14, 526 N.E.2d at 157. Where, as in the case now before the court, multiple parties claim an ownership interest in an unfenced lake, it may be difficult to discern precisely where the boundaries of one's property are located. The civil law rule avoids this problem by granting the owner of part of a non-navigable lake bed access to the entire lake. The rule arguably promotes rather than hinders the recreational use and enjoyment of lakes. Id. Perhaps more importantly, the civil law rule discourages the placement of fences or other barriers along boundary lines in the water that frustrate the cooperative and mutually beneficial use of water resources, id., and arguably promotes the aesthetic enjoyment of those who use them. Notwithstanding the notable positive features of the civil law rule, however, we reject it and join the majority of jurisdictions that have adopted the common law rule. The principal advantage of the rule we adopt today is its consistency with prevailing norms of real estate ownership in this state. The common law rule recognizes the legal significance of property boundaries and protects the interests of owners when neighbors are unwilling or unable to coexist cooperatively. Finally, we adopt the common law rule as the default rule, realizing that the several owners of non-navigable lakes may bargain among themselves to adopt other mutually acceptable arrangements for the use and mutual enjoyment of water resources.