Tide

The ebb and flow of the sea. The law takes notice of three kinds of tides, viz., the high spring tides, which are the fluxes of the sea at those tides which happen at the two equinoctials; the spring tides, which happen twice every month, at the full and change of the moon; the neap or ordinary tides, which happen between the full and change of the moon, twice in twenty-four hours. Angell, Tide Waters, 68. The changeable condition of the tides produces, of course, corresponding changes in the line of high-water mark. Now, inasmuch as the soil of all tidal waters up to the limit of high-water mark, at common law, is in the crown, or, in this country, in the state, it is important to ascertain what is high-water mark, in legal contemplation, considered as the boundary of the royal or public ownership. In an English case this ownership has been held to be limited by the average of the medium high tides between the spring and the neap in each quarter of a lunar revolution during the year, excluding only extraordinary catastrophes or overflows. 4 De Gex, M. & G. 206; 3 Barn. & Ald. 967; 5 Barn. & Ald. 268; 2 Doug. 629; 7 Pet. (U. S.) 324; 1 Pick. (Mass.) 180; 2 Johns. (N. Y.) 357. See "River."

The ebb and flow of the sea. See Baird v. Campbell, 67 App. Div. 104, 73 N. Y. Supp. 617.

— Tide lands. See Land.

— Tide-water. Water which falls and rises with the ebb and flow of the tide. The term is not usually applied to the open sea, but to coves, bays, rivers, etc.

To be tidal water it is not necessary that water should be salt, but the spot must be one where the tide, in the ordinary course of things, flows and reflows.3 In England there is no navigable stream beyond the ebb and flow of the tide. There, therefore, tide-water and navigable water are synonymous terms, and mean nothing more than public rivers. Hence the established doctrine in that country that admiralty jurisdiction is confined to the ebb and flow of the tide. In other words, it is confined to public navigable waters. And so, in early days in this country, a public river was defined as a tide-water river, "without examination whether that definition was as applicable here as in England, the navigable waters then thought of being tide-waters on the Atlantic coasts, rather than the great lakes with their tributaries.* See Aduiraltv; Lakes; I^avioable.

The ebb and flow of the sea. Tide-lands. The term tide-lands, as used in the California act of May 14, 1861, means lands covered and uncovered by the tides, and does not include lands lying below lowtide mark, and permanently covered by the navigable waters of the bay or ocean. Walker v. Marks, 2 Sawyer, 152. Tidesmen. Are certain officers of the custom-house, appointed to watch or attend upon ships, till the customs are paid; and they are so called because they go aboard the ships at their arrival in the mouth of the Thames, and come up with the tide. Jacob. Tide-Tvater. Water which ebbs and flows with the tide; usually applied to waters near or partially enclosed by the land. The open sea is not so often spoken of as tide-water, as are creeks, coves, and mouths of rivers. The term tide-water includes a place where the fluctuation is only two feet, and caused by river-water meeting the sea. Attorney-General «. Woods, 108 Mass. 436. The term shore is not limited to the mere water-line, but includes the land immediately adjacent to it. Lacy v. Green, 84 Pa. St. 514. Consult Shoke.