Accretion in United Kingdom

Definition of Accretion

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Accretion :

The process by which new land formations are legally assimilated to old by a change in the flow of a water channel. In contrast to *avulsion, this process involves a very slow, near imperceptible, natural action of water and other elements. It would include, for example, the natural diversion of a boundary river leaving an island, sandbank, or dry land where it previously flowed, the formation of islands at a river mouth, and additions to a delta by the deposit of sand and soil upon the shoreline. Accretion will allow the beneficiary state to legitimately claim title to the new land so created.

See also thalweg, rule of the.

Meaning of Accretion

The following is an old definition of Accretion [1]: A mode of acquiring title to realty, where portions of the soil are added by gradual deposit, through the operation of natural causes, to that already in possession of the owner. See Accrescere. The deposit itself is ordinarily called alluvion, see, in this resource, the term Compare Avulsion. At common law, imperceptible increase to land on the bank of a river by alluvial formations, occasioned by the washing up of the sand or earth, or by dereliction, as where the river shrinks back below the usual watermark. When by addition, It should be so gradual that no one can see how much is added each moment of time. Until new land is made or emerges, there can be no ” accretion ” to or increase of the land of which it shall constitute a part. The term, importing an addition of what possesses the characteristics of land, cannot, therefore, be construed to include oysters planted opposite to land. The rule governing additions made to land bounded by a river, lake, or sea, has been much discussed and variously settled by usage and positive law. Almost all jurists and legislators, however, have agreed that the owner of the land, thus bounded, is entitled to these additions. By some, the rule has been vindicated on the principle of natural justice that he who sustains the burden of losses and of repairs, imposed by the contiguity of waters, ought to receive whatever benefits they may bring by accretion; by others, it is derived from the principle of public policy, that it is the interest of the community that all land should have an owner, and most convenient, that insensible additions to the shore should follow the title to the shore itself. It is generally conceded that the riparian title attaches to subsequent accretions to the land affected by the gradual and imperceptible operations of natural causes. But whether it attaches to land reclaimed by artificial means from the bed of the river, or to sudden accretions produced by unusual floods, is a question each State decides tor itself. By the common law, such additions to the land on tide or navigable waters belong to the crown. An aerolite belongs to the owner of the fee of the land upon which ib falls. Therefore, a pedestrian upon a highway who first discovers such stone cannot claim title to it, the highway being a mere easement for travel.

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Notes and References

1. Concept of Accretion provided by the Anderson Dictionary of Law (1889) (Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims and an Exposition of the Principles of Law: Comprising a Dictionary and Compendium of American and English Jurisprudence; William C. Anderson; T. H. Flood and Company, Law Publishers, Chicago, United States)