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THE WHARF CASE. 379
think proper, and three-fourths of the moneys arising from the sale
of the same, when sold, to appropriate for building and erecting
the said new market-house on the said marsh, and completing this
public wharves adjoining the same? and the other fourth to defray
the expense of building the market-house to the westward of the
basin. (I)
This parcel of ground on which this new market-house was to
be built is thus described as extending one hundred and fifty feet
in width, from Baltimore street to Water street, 'with the privilege
of extending the same to the channel;' and consequently, 'the
public wharves adjoining the same,' for the completion of which
this law, thus in part provided the means, could only have been
those public wharves in front of so much of this marshy ground
as had been previously dedicated to the public, which its former
owners had, as required, filled up and made in order to remove the
nuisance complained of; and which, therefore, must have been,
from their foundation, and always considered and treated as public
wharves. This parcel of ground had been thus expressly dedi-
cated to the use of the public for a market-house and wharves;
and this law has not only named these two public uses, and au-
thorized the application of certain public funds to defray the
expense of making this ground useful to the public in both of
those modes; but it has expressly declared, that it was held by
the public 'with the privilege of extending the same to the chan-
nel.' It is not said how, or in what form this privilege is to be
exercised; and hence, it is perfectly obvious, that it must give to
the owners of the ground, within the specified extent, a right to
alter the location and form of those public wharves at pleasure;
they must be allowed to have, under this general privilege, the
right to raise the ground above high-water mark, and to remove
their wharves further in towards the channel; to have the right to
give to their wharves the shape of a canal or dock, as had been
formerly said to be most advantageous; or to make a short trans-
verse wharf abutment immediately along the specified line of the
channel. But whatever may be the location or form of such
wharves .they must, nevertheless, be considered and treated as 'the
public wharves adjoining' to this ground, according to the clear
and express terms of this law, And having been thus, by several
solemn legislative enactments provided for and declared to be
(l) 1784, ch. 62, s. 4.
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