﻿532 
  NEW 
  YORK 
  STATE 
  MUSEUM 
  

  

  of 
  streams, 
  but 
  both 
  remained 
  the 
  property 
  of 
  the 
  State. 
  When 
  

   the 
  colony 
  of 
  New 
  Netherlands 
  passed 
  into 
  the 
  hands 
  of 
  the 
  En- 
  

   glish 
  government, 
  the 
  colonists 
  were 
  assured 
  the 
  peaceful 
  enjoy- 
  

   ment 
  of 
  all 
  the 
  rights 
  they 
  then 
  possessed. 
  The 
  beds 
  of 
  large 
  

   streams, 
  never 
  having 
  been 
  conveyed, 
  became 
  then 
  vested 
  in 
  the 
  

   English 
  government 
  as 
  ungranted 
  lands, 
  to 
  which 
  as 
  a 
  conse- 
  

   quence 
  of 
  the 
  Revolution, 
  the 
  State 
  of 
  New 
  York 
  succeeded 
  in 
  due 
  

   course. 
  

  

  Throughout 
  the 
  Colonial 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  the 
  early 
  State 
  period 
  this 
  

   right 
  seems 
  never 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  questioned; 
  it 
  was 
  only 
  after 
  the 
  

   beginning 
  of 
  the 
  era 
  of 
  internal 
  improvement 
  that 
  questions 
  aris- 
  

   ing 
  under 
  this 
  head 
  became 
  leading 
  ones 
  in 
  the 
  jurisprudence 
  of 
  

   this 
  State. 
  

  

  The 
  English 
  common 
  law, 
  which 
  became 
  in 
  force 
  in 
  the 
  colony 
  

   of 
  New 
  York 
  after 
  the 
  English 
  occupancy, 
  differs 
  from 
  the 
  civil 
  

   law 
  of 
  Holland 
  in 
  affirming 
  the 
  right 
  of 
  the 
  riparian 
  proprietors, 
  

   not 
  only 
  to 
  the 
  banks 
  of 
  non-navigable 
  large 
  streams, 
  but 
  also 
  to 
  

   the 
  beds 
  thereof 
  and 
  hence 
  to 
  a 
  right 
  to 
  the 
  flow 
  of 
  the 
  water 
  

   paramount 
  to 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  State, 
  which 
  could 
  only 
  acquire 
  rights 
  

   therein 
  by 
  the 
  exercise 
  of 
  eminent 
  domain 
  and 
  the 
  granting 
  of 
  

   just 
  compensation. 
  

  

  The 
  principle 
  of 
  State 
  ownership 
  of 
  the 
  Hudson 
  and 
  Mohawk 
  

   rivers 
  was 
  strongly 
  asserted 
  over 
  one 
  hundred 
  years 
  ago, 
  in 
  1792, 
  

   when 
  on 
  March 
  30 
  of 
  that 
  year 
  an 
  act 
  passed 
  the 
  legislature 
  in- 
  

   corporating 
  the 
  Western 
  Inland 
  Lock 
  Navigation 
  Company, 
  hav- 
  

   ing 
  for 
  its 
  object 
  the 
  improvement 
  of 
  navigation 
  of 
  the 
  Mohawk 
  

   river 
  from 
  the 
  navigable 
  portion 
  of 
  the 
  Hudson 
  to 
  Rome, 
  and 
  

   thence 
  to 
  Lake 
  Ontario 
  and 
  Seneca 
  lake, 
  and 
  the 
  Northern 
  Inland 
  

   Lock 
  Navigation 
  Company, 
  having 
  for 
  its 
  object 
  to 
  open 
  a 
  like 
  

   communication 
  from 
  the 
  navigable 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  Hudson 
  river 
  to 
  

   Lake 
  Champlain. 
  In 
  an 
  amendment 
  to 
  this 
  act, 
  passed 
  Decem- 
  

   ber 
  22, 
  1792, 
  it 
  is 
  provided 
  that 
  all 
  the 
  land 
  under 
  the 
  Mohawk 
  

   and 
  Hudson 
  rivers 
  which 
  may 
  be 
  occupied 
  by 
  those 
  corporations 
  

   is 
  vested 
  in 
  them 
  during 
  the 
  continuance 
  of 
  the 
  franchise 
  " 
  as 
  a 
  

   free 
  gift 
  from 
  the 
  people 
  of 
  this 
  State," 
  saving 
  and 
  reserving 
  to 
  

   the 
  people 
  the 
  right 
  to 
  all 
  the- 
  lands 
  under 
  the 
  water 
  not 
  so 
  

   occupied 
  as 
  aforesaid, 
  to 
  be 
  appropriated 
  as 
  the 
  legislature 
  might 
  

   from 
  time 
  to 
  time 
  direct. 
  

  

  