Opinion ID: 722544
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Navigational Servitude and Compensation for Takings of Riparian Land

Text: 11 The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires the payment of just compensation for private property taken for public use. U.S. Const.Amend. 5. But the United States is not constitutionally required to pay for economic losses resulting from the exercise of its navigational servitude--its power to regulate the use of navigable waterways--because navigable waterways have always been under the exclusive control of the federal government under the Commerce Clause. As stated by the Supreme Court in United States v. Rands, 389 U.S. 121, 88 S.Ct. 265, 19 L.Ed.2d 329 (1967): 12 The Commerce Clause confers a unique position upon the Government in connection with navigable waters.... [T]hey are the public property of the nation, and subject to all the requisite legislation by Congress. This power to regulate navigation confers upon the United States a dominant servitude, which extends to the entire stream and the stream bed below the ordinary high-water mark. The proper exercise of this power is not an invasion of any private property rights in the stream or the lands underlying it, for the damage sustained does not result from taking property from riparian owners within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment but from the lawful exercise of a power to which the interests of riparian owners have always been subject. Thus, without being constitutionally obligated to pay compensation, the United States may change the course of a navigable stream or otherwise impair of destroy a riparian owner's access to navigable waters, even though the market value of the riparian owner's land is substantially diminished. 13 Id. at 122-23, 88 S.Ct. at 266-67 (citations omitted); see also Owen v. United States, 851 F.2d 1404, 1408 (Fed.Cir.1988). 14 The navigational servitude does not relieve the Government of its obligation to pay just compensation for takings of fastlands above the high-water mark. 1 But the Constitution permits the Government to disregard the value arising from [the] fact of riparian location in compensating the owner when fast lands are appropriated. United States v. Rands, 389 U.S. at 123-24, 88 S.Ct. at 267. The value of land that arises from its riparian location does not inhere in these parcels, but depends on use of water to which the [landowner] has no right as against the United States. Id. at 124, 88 S.Ct. at 267. 2 15 Congress can, of course, provide relief where the exercise of the navigational servitude causes economic loss, even though the United States is not constitutionally required to pay compensation. One instance of congressional action to grant such relief is Section 111 of the River and Harbors Act of 1970, 33 U.S.C. § 595a. Section 111 provides that in cases of takings of above the high-water mark real property, just compensation will be calculated on the basis of a tract's riparian location, even though United States v. Rands makes clear that the Constitution does not require consideration of the tract's location. Section 111 provides, in relevant part: 16 In all cases where real property shall be taken by the United States for the public use in connection with any improvement of rivers, harbors, canals, or waterways of the United States, and in all condemnation proceedings by the United States to acquire lands or easements for such improvements, the compensation to be paid for real property taken by the United States above the normal high water mark of navigable waters of the United States shall be the fair market value of such real property based upon all uses to which such real property may reasonably be put, including its highest and best use, any of which uses may be dependent upon access to or utilization of such navigable waters. 17 33 U.S.C. § 595a. While Section 111 alters the method of calculation of just compensation for takings of above high-water mark riparian land, it does not alter the underlying determination of what constitutes a taking under the Fifth Amendment. Nor does Section 111 alter any other aspect of established law on the navigational servitude. 3 18