Opinion ID: 1907823
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: whether ipm, bayview land, treasure bay, or the mladinich family enjoy any littoral rights

Text: ¶ 42. Littoral rights are the rights of landowners whose land is abutting an ocean, sea or lake rather than a river or stream, in which case the rights would be riparian, not littoral. Stewart, 815 So.2d at 1163 (internal citations omitted). Littoral rights are usually concerned with the use and enjoyment of the shore. Id. (internal citations omitted). However, we have consistently held that littoral rights are not property rights per se, but are merely licenses or privileges. Columbia Land Dev., 868 So.2d at 1012. See also Stewart, 815 So.2d at 1163 (citing Watts v. Lawrence, 703 So.2d 236, 238 (Miss.1997); Gilich, 609 So.2d at 375). These licenses or privileges are also revocable. Stewart, 815 So.2d at 1163. Littoral and riparian property owners have common law and statutory rights under the Coastal Wetlands Protection Law which extend into the waters and beyond the low tide line, and the state's responsibilities as trustee extends to such owners as well as to the other members of the public. Miss.Code Ann. § 29-15-5. These rights are rights to reasonable use, subject to the State's interest in the lands. State ex rel. Rice v. Stewart, 184 Miss. 202, 237, 184 So. 44, 50 (1938) (citing Money, 118 So. at 359). Operating gaming facilities and a hotel would constitute reasonable use and encourage commerce on the water. The Act and our case law make it clear that these rights are administered through the agency so designated by statute. Watts, 703 So.2d at 239. That agency's procedures and requirements must be followed. Id. That agency is the Secretary of State. Columbia Land Dev., 868 So.2d at 1013. See also Miss.Code Ann. § 7-11-11. These littoral rights, essentially the right to use and enjoyment of the water, include many activities laid out in the statute. Miss.Code Ann. §§ 49-15-9, 49-27-7. ¶ 43. The trial court found that because the 3.05-acre of land made up of accretions was vested in the State, IPM had no land touching the water, except for small slivers of land on either side of the accreted parcel in question, and therefore no littoral rights to the water touching any of the land except its own, those small slivers flanking the accretions. And the land must not only be contiguous to the water, but in contact with it. Proximity without contact is insufficient. Ill. Cent. RR. v. Illinois, 146 U.S. 387, 445, 13 S.Ct. 110, 115, 36 L.Ed. 1018, 1040 (1892). Because of our disposition of Issue I in favor of IPM, we find that the position of the Mladinich Family and Treasure Bay, which IPM and Bayview join, has merit, in that they do enjoy certain littoral rights to be determined by the chancellor upon conducting further proceedings consistent with our disposition of Issue I, above.