Law Commons^™

Water Law Transitions, Robert H. Abrams

Journal Publications

The history of water law throughout the United States is dynamic. Beginning with the inherited doctrine of English common law natural flow riparianism, the changes in law can be described as instrumentalist in the sense that "judges and legislatures made this branch of water law an instrument of pro-developmental policy." When the natural flow doctrine's requirement that the stream flow down to lower owners undiminished as to quantity and quality clashed with the needs of the extensive utilization of water powered mills in the nineteenth century, the courts pioneered an American doctrine of reasonable use riparianism that would sustain water-dependent …

Legal Convergence Of East And West In Contemporary American Water Law, Robert Haskell Abrams

Journal Publications

Legal instrumentalism and legal convergence, two legal constructs, describe how American water law has developed over time. A study of early Eastern and Western water law shows that both systems are instrumentalist at their core and evolved to suit pressing developmental needs. Early on in the East, law was created to protect water use for millers, who used mills to generate power. In the West, riparian systems of the East were rejected in favor of a system that met the needs of settlers in more arid environments. Legal convergence is a concept suggesting that law governing various fields converges over …

Walking The Beach To The Core Of Sovereignty: The Historic Basis For The Public Trust Doctrine Applied In Glass V. Goeckel, Robert Haskell Abrams

Journal Publications

In 2004, a split panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals announced its conclusion that Michigan littoral owners of property owned to the water's very edge and could exclude members of the public from walking on the beach. In that instant almost 3300 miles of the Great Lakes foreshore became, in theory and in law, closed to public use. The case became the leading flash point of controversy between the vast public and ardent private property rights groups. A little more than one year later, the Michigan Supreme Court reversed that ruling as errant on public trust grounds and returned …

Interbasin Transfer In A Riparian Jurisdiction, Robert Haskell Abrams

Journal Publications

This Article explores some issues pertaining to interbasin diversion of water in the East. The major issues surveyed are the physical and political aspects of interbasin transfers and the legal doctrines that govern them. Intrastate transfers are studied separately from interstate transfers to delineate unique problems that attend the latter. When possible, the Article will focus on Virginia as a state that has importing regions where interbasin transfer is a possibility.

Setting Regional Policy On Diverting Great Lakes Water To The Arid West: Scaling Down Two Myths, Robert Haskell Abrams

Journal Publications

No abstract provided.

Governmental Expansion Of Recreational Water Use Opportunities, Robert Haskell Abrams

Journal Publications

The growing popularity of public boating and related water-based recreation is increasingly taxing the capacity of available lakes and strearns. As a result, accelerating demands have been made for public use of otherwise unavailable, "private" bodies of water. Although existing 'economic' and governmental mechanisms to expand recreational opportunities may be adequate in theory, they have failed to respond to these new demands coherently." This Article proposes that government enjoys additional power to increase the public's opportunity for water-based recreation.

The purpose of this Article is to lay a comprehensive, doctrinal foundation for broad governmental action. Simultaneously, this Article counsels a …