navigable
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NAVIGABLE. Capable of being navigated.
2. In law, the term navigable is applied to the sea, to arms of the
sea, and to rivers in which the tide flows and reflows. 5 Taunt. R. 705; S.
C. Eng. Com. Law Rep. 240; 5 Pick. R. 199; Ang. Tide Wat. 62; 1 Bouv. Inst.
n. 428.
3. In North Carolina; 1 M'Cord, R. 580; 2 Dev. R. 30; 3 Dev. R. 59; and
in Pennsylvania; 2 Binn. R. 75; 14 S. & R. 71; the navigability of a river
does not depend upon the ebb and flow of the tide, but a stream navigable by
sea vessels is a navigable river.
4. By the common law, such rivers as are navigable in the popular sense
of the word, whether the tide ebb and flow in them or not, are public
highways. Ang. Tide Wat. 62; Ang. Wat. Courses, 205 1 Pick. 180; 5 Pick.
199; 1 Halst. 1; 4 Call, 441: 3 Blackf. 136. Vide Arm of the sea; Reliction;
River.