| Alluvion.| This then is the system of law by which the legal character of the facts of the case is now to be tested: and the plaintiff and his counsel having imagined that, in the Roman branch of it, they had found a niche in which they could place the batture to great advantage, have availed themselves of it with no little dexterity, and by calling it habitually an alluvion, have given a general currency to the idea that it is really an alluvion: insomuch that even those who deny their inferences, have still suffered themselves carelessly to speak of it under that term. Were we, for a moment to indulge them in this misnomer, and to look at their claim as if really an alluvion one, the false would be found to avail them as little as the true name. The Roman law indeed says, 'quod per alluvionem agro tuo flumen adjecit, jure gentium, tibi adquiritur.' 'What the river adds to your field by alluvion, becomes yours by the law of nations. Institute. L. 1. tit. 1. §. 20. Dig. L. 41. tit. 1. §. 7. The same law, in like manner, gave to the adjacent proprietors, the sand bars, shoals, islands rising in the river, and even the bed of the river itself, as far as it was contracted or deserted. Inst. 2. 1. 22. and 2. 1. 23. But the established laws of France differed in all these cases.

'Par notre droit Français, dit Pothier, les alluvions qui se font sur le bord des fleuves, et des rivières navigables, appartiennent au roi. Les propriétaires riverains n'y peuvent rien prétendre, à moins qu'ils n'ayant des titres de la concession que le roi leur aurait faite du droit d'alluvion.' 1. Pothier. Traité de la propriété. *1 Part. c. 2. §. 3. art. 2. No. 159. |[27*]| 'By our French law, says Pothier, one of their most respected authorities, the alluvions formed on the borders of navigable streams and rivers belong to the king. The proprietors of riparian heritages can have no claim to them, unless they have evidences of the grant made to them by the king, of the right of alluvion along their heritages.' Pothier, Part 1. c. 2. §. 3. art. 2. No. 159. cited Derbigny, xviii.

And Guyot, in the Répertoire Universel de Jurisprudence, a work also of authority and cited with approbation by the plaintiff and his counsel, [Liv. 21. Du Ponceau, 14.] under the word 'île,' says,

'Nous n'admettons pas comme les Romains, les alluvions, et les accroissemens, au profit des propriétaires riverains, soit par les changemens qui peuvent survenir dans le lit des rivières, soit relativement aux îles, et îlots qui peuvent s'y former. Chez eux le lit, et les bords des fleuves et rivières étaient censés faire partie des héritages riverains; et par une suite de ces maximes, le terrain qu'un fleuve ajoutait à ces héritages, appartenait à ceux qui en étaient propriétaires. Ils réunissaient de même à leurs possessions le lit que le fleuve abandonnait; et lorsqu'il se formait une île dans le milieu de son lit, les riverains y avaient un droit égal, et en partageaient la propriété. Suivant nos principes, les rivières navigables, leur lit, rives, et tous les terrains qui peuvent s'y former, appartiennent au roi, à raison de sa souveraineté. C'est la disposition précise de l'article 41. du tit. 37 de l'Ordonnance des eaux et forêts de 1669, qui a dissipé tous les doutes que l'on cherchait à faire naître dans plusieurs provinces, sur les fondemens des énonciations qui se rencontraient dans les anciennes concessions. 'We do not admit, as the Romans, alluvions and accumulations to go to the riparian proprietors, either by changes which may happen in the bed of rivers, or relating to isles, and islets which may there be formed. With them the bed and borders of rivers and streams were considered as making part of the riparian inheritances; and as a consequence of these maxims, the earth which a river added to these inheritances, belonged to those who were the proprietors of them. They reunited in like manner to their possessions the bed which a river abandoned, and when an isle was formed in the middle of its bed, the riparians had an equal right to it, and divided the property. According to our principles, navigable streams, their bed, banks, and all the grounds which may be formed there, belong to the king, in right of his sovereignty. It is the precise provision of art. 41. tit. 37. of the Ordonnance des eaux et forêts, which has dissipated all the doubts which they had endeavored to raise in several provinces, on the grounds of the enunciations which were found in the ancient concessions.' Cited Derbigny 23.

Again, after laying down the Roman law of alluvion, and of islands formed in the beds of rivers, Le Rasle, in the law Dictionary, forming a part of the Encyclopédie Méthodique. Jurisprud. accession. 94, says,

'Nous n'avons pas suivi dans notre droit Français les *dispositions Romaines à |[28*]| cet égard; toutes les isles ou autres attérissemens qui se forment dans les rivières appartiennent au roi, et font partie du domaine. Les terres ajoutées par alluvion aux héritages baignés par le fleuve et les rivières navigables, n'appartiennent aux riverains, que lorsqu'ils out un titre de concession qui leur permet de se les approprier.' 'We have not in our French law followed the Roman provisions in this respect; all islands or other accumulations which are formed in rivers, belong to the king, and constitute a part of the domain. Lands added by alluvion to inheritances washed by rivers and navigable streams, do not belong to the riparians but when they have a deed of concession which permits them to appropriate them to themselves.'

And Ferriere, quoted also by the plaintiff, says,

'Pour ce qui regarde l'augmentation arrivée à un héritage subitement et tout d'un coup, la décision que les loix Romaines ont faites à cet égard n'est point observée dans le royaume. Cette augmentation appartient au roi, dans les rivières navigables.' And Denizert agrees, 'que les attérissements formés subitement dans le mer, ou dans les fleuves ou rivières navigables, appartiennent au roi, par le seul titre de sa souveraineté.' 'As to augmentations happening suddenly and all at once, the decision of the Roman laws in this respect, is not observed in the kingdom. These augmentations belong to the king in navigable rivers.' And Denizert agrees, 'that atterrissements formed suddenly in the sea, or the navigable rivers or streams, belong to the king in the sole right of his sovereignty.'