Derelict
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derelict
n. something or someone who is abandoned, such as a ship left to drift at sea or a homeless person ignored by family and society.
(See: abandon, dereliction)
Copyright © 1981-2005 by Gerald N. Hill and Kathleen T. Hill. All Right reserved.
DERELICT, common law. This term is applied in the common law in a different
sense from what it bears in the civil law. In the former it is applied to
lands left by the sea.
2. When so left by degrees the derelict land belongs to the owner of
the soil adjoining but when the sea retires suddenly, it belongs to the
government. 2 Bl. Com. 262 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 239; 1 Sumn. 328, 490 1 Gallis.
138; Bee, R. 62, 178, 260; Ware, R. 332.
A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.