The owner of lands on the bank of a river may, however, make or repair a bank to protect them from the river.

|[56*]| *'Quamvis fluminis naturalem cursum, opere manu facto alio, non liceat avertere, tamen ripam suam adversus rapidi amnis impetum, munire prohibitum, non est.' Codex L. 7. t. 41. §. 1. 'Although it is not allowed to turn the natural course of a river by another made by hand, yet it is not prohibited to guard one's bank against the force of a rapid river.'

But he is not permitted to do even this if it will affect the public right, or injure the neighboring inhabitants.

'In flumine publico, inve ripâ ejus facere, aut in id flumen ripamve immittere, quo aliter aqua fluat quam priore æstate fluxit, veto.' 'Quod autem ait, aliter fluat non ad quantitatem aquæ fluentis pertinet, sed ad modum, et ad rigorem cursûs aquæ referendum est. Et si quod aliud vitii aecolæ ex facto ejus qui convenitur sentient, interdicto locus erit.' Ib. §. 3. 'Sunt qui putent excipiendum hoc interdicto "quod ejus ripæ muniendæ causa non flet," seilicet ut si quid fiat quo aliter aqua fluat, si tamen muniendæ ripæ causâ fiat, interdicto locus non sit. Sed ne hoc quibusdam placet; neque enim ripæ, cum incommodo accolentium, muniendæ sunt.' Ib. §. 6. 'I forbid any thing to be done in a public river, or on its bank, or to be cast into the river or on its bank, by which the water may be Dig. L. 43. tit. 13. §. 1. made to flow otherwise than it flowed in the last season.' 'When he says, to flow otherwise, it relates, not to the quantity of water, but to the manner and direction of the course of the water. And if the neighbors experience any other evil from the act of him who is convened, there will be ground for interdict.' 'Some think liable to this interdict only "what is not done for the purpose of strengthening the bank," to wit, that if any thing be done by which the water may otherwise flow, if nevertheless it was to secure the bank, there is no ground for interdict. But this is not approved by others, for that banks are not to be secured to the inconvenience of the inhabitants.'

More particularly full and explicit as to the inhibitions of the law against obstructing the bed, beach or bank of a sea or river, is Noodt, Probabil. Juris civilis. 4. 1. 1. After declaring that as to a house, or other such thing, built in a public river, the law is the same as obtains as to the sea and sea shore, he proposes to state, 1. The law respecting the sea and its shore, and 2. As it respects a river and its bank; and says,

'Ait Celsus maris communem usum esse, ut aëris; jactasque in id pilas fieri ejus qui jecit: sed id concedendum non esse, si deterior litoris marisve usus eo modo futurus sit. Adeo hoc quod in mari exstructum est, facientis est. Ut tamen exstruere liceat, et decreto opus est, et ut innoxia ædificatio sit. Porrò ut usus maris, ita usus litoris, sive communis, sive publicus est jure gentium; et ideò licet unicuique in litore ædificare, litusque ædificatione suum facere. Si tamen, ut in mari, ita in litore, impetravit: præterea si non eo modo deterior futurus sit usus litoris; vel nisi usus publicus impedietur. Hoc in mari litoribus jus est. Idem in fluminibus publicis, Ulpiano teste, Dig. 39. 2. 24. cum sic ait, 'fluminium publicorum communis est usus, sicut viarum publicarum et litorum. In his igitur publicè licet cuilibet ædificare, et distruere, dum tamen hoc sine incommodo cujusquam fiat.' Vult tamen Ulpianus, ut ædificari possit, ædificari publicè et sine cujusquam incommodo; pariter ut in mari et litore definitum: publicè inquam, seu publicâ auctoritate; id enim hoc verbum, publicè indigitat.' And (§. 2.) citing Dig. 43. 12. 4. he says, 'quæsitum est, an is, qui in utrâque ripâ fluminis publici domus habeat, pontem privati juris [vel privato jure] facere potest; respondit non posse. Et si facit, interdicto teneri. Causa responsi est quod, cum pontem facit, usum fluminis publici facit deteriorem.' So far Noodt. 'Celsus says that the use of the sea is common, as is that of the air: and that stones laid in it were his who laid them, but that it was not to be admitted if the use of the shore or sea would be |[57*]| *the worse. So what is constructed in the sea is his who constructs it. But to make it lawful to construct, a decree is necessary, and that the construction be innocent. Moreover, as the use of the sea, so that of the shore, is either common or public, by the law of nations. And therefore it is lawful for any one to build on the shore, and to make the shore his by the building; if however, as in the sea, so on the shore, he has obtained permission: and provided besides, the use of the shore will not thereby be rendered worse, nor the public use be impeded. This is the law as to the sea and its shores. It is the same as to public rivers, according to Ulpian, Dig. 39. 2. 24. where he says, 'the use of public rivers is common, as of highways and shores. In these, therefore, any one may build up, or pull down, publicly, provided it be done without inconvenience to any one.' That you may build, however, Ulpian requires that you build publicly, and without inconvenience to any one; in like manner as is prescribed as to the sea, and its shore: publicly, I say, or by public authority; for that is what the word publicly, indicates. And §. 2. citing Dig. 43. 12. 4. he says, 'it is asked whether he who has houses on both banks of the river, may build a bridge, of his own private authority. He answers, he cannot; and if he does, he is bound by the interdict. The reason of the answer is, that by building a bridge he injures the use of a public river.' So far Noodt.

|[58*]| * The same is the law as to highways and public places. Dig. 43. 8. 2. 16.

'Si quis à principe simpliciter impetraverit ut in publico loco ædificet, non est credendus sic ædificare ut cum incommodo alicujus id fiat.' 'If any one obtains leave, simply, from the prince, to build in a public place, it is not to be understood he is so to build as to incommode another.'

We see then that the Roman law not only forbade every species of construction or work on the bed, beach or bank of a sea or river, without regular permission from the proper officer, but even annuls the permission after it is given, if, in event, the work proves injurious; not abandoning the lives and properties of its citizens to the ignorance, the facility, or the corruption, of any officer. Indeed, without all this appeal to such learned authorities, does not common sense, the foundation of all authorities, of the laws themselves, and of their construction, declare it impossible that Mr. Livingston, a single individual, should have a lawful right to drown the city of New-Orleans, or to injure, or change, of his own authority, the course or current of a river which is to give outlet to the productions of two-thirds of the whole area of the United States?

Such, then, are the laws of Louisiana, declaratory of the public rights in navigable rivers, their beds and banks. For we must ever bear in mind that the Roman law, from which these extracts are made, so far as it is not controlled by the Customs of Paris, the Ordinances of France, or the Spanish regulations, is the law of Louisiana. Nor does this law deal in precept only, or trust the public rights to the dead letter of law merely: it provides also for enforcement. The Digest. L. 43. tit. 15. de ripâ muniendâ; provides