Any person owning land upon a watercourse may erect a private wharf on the same, or private pier or landing, in such watercourse opposite his land; provided, such wharf, pier or land is for noncommercial purposes and navigation be not obstructed, nor the private rights of any person be otherwise injured thereby. The circuit court of the county in which such wharf, pier or landing is, after causing ten days' notice to be given to the owner thereof, of its intention to consider the subject, if it be satisfied that such wharf, pier or landing obstructs the navigation of the watercourse, or so encroaches on any private landing as to prevent the free use thereof, may abate the same.
Va. Code Ann. § 62.1-164
Erection and abatement of private wharves, piers and landings
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Smith Mountain Lake Yacht Club, Inc. v. Ramaker (2001)
Most recently applied in 46 Va. App. 618 - Evelyn v. Commonwealth (October 2005)
Code 1950, § 62-139; 1968, c. 659; 1972, c. 415.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Virginia Law Portal (LIS). Reproduced from public-domain Virginia statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.