Legal Definitions - reliction

Reliction refers to the legal process by which a landowner gains title to new land that becomes exposed when a body of water, such as a lake, river, or sea, gradually and permanently recedes from their property. This natural phenomenon results in an increase in the dry land owned by the individual whose property borders the water. For the landowner to legally claim ownership of this newly exposed land, the recession of the water must be a gradual and lasting change, not a temporary fluctuation.

Here are some examples illustrating reliction:

• Imagine a large, shallow lake in a semi-arid region. Over several decades, due to a long-term shift in weather patterns and reduced rainfall, the lake's water level consistently drops, and its shoreline slowly retreats. A property owner whose land previously ended at the lake's edge now finds that a new strip of dry land, perhaps several yards wide, has emerged between their original boundary and the new, shrunken lake.

  This illustrates reliction because the lake's recession is gradual and permanent, exposing new land that the adjacent property owner may now claim as part of their property.

• Consider a farm situated along a wide, slow-moving river. Over the course of many years, the river's main channel naturally and imperceptibly shifts towards the opposite bank, causing the water level on the farm's side to gradually recede. What was once a submerged riverbed near the farm's boundary slowly becomes dry, arable land suitable for cultivation.

  This scenario demonstrates reliction as the river's gradual change in course and permanent recession of water from one bank adds new, usable land to the riparian farm property.

• A coastal town owns land bordering a bay. Over a century, due to geological uplift or a long-term, natural decrease in local sea levels, the waterline along the bay's edge gradually retreats. This exposes a new stretch of sandy beach and tidal flats that were previously underwater, effectively expanding the town's dry land area adjacent to the bay.

  This example shows reliction occurring on a larger scale, where the gradual and permanent recession of the sea exposes new land, which the adjacent property owner (in this case, the town) may acquire.