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THE WHARF CASE. 369
The argument was confined to a consideration of the acts of
Assembly, the contract of the 10th of February, 1794, and the
city ordinances; but the case involves interests of a much wider
range; it is one which requires to be investigated not only in rela-
tion to the immediate rights of these parties; but as to the manner
in which it affects the course of commerce in a great public sea-
port; and as it regards the uses which those who resort to that
port have a right to make of those wharves. The public as well
as these parties, therefore, have a deep concern in the questions
now to be determined, (b)
A wharf, like a road, may certainly be made on private pro-
perty; and the one or the other may be as exclusively the property
of an individual as his house, or any other portion of his separate
estate. A wharf is a building which is always an encroachment
on navigable water; because, unless its boundary wall were to
extend beyond high water mark, vessels could not approach and
lay at it. (c) But these are open wharves in a great public sea-
port; they are parcel of a public place dedicated to commerce; a
place to which all have a right to resort, subject to certain legal
regulations. A wharf of this description must always be viewed
as a part of the port in which it is situated; it cannot be consi-
dered as a thing unconnected with the port itself; because it is
subject to the law of the port; and, as is admitted in this instance,
the claim of wharfage, who ever may be allowed to profit by it,
must be controlled by that law. (d)
A port, in common sea phrase, may be said to be any safe sta-
tion for ships; but, in law, it is described to be a place for arriving
and lading and unlading of ships in a manner prescribed by law;
and near to which is a city or town for the accommodation of
mariners and the securing and vending of merchandise. So that
in this sense a public port is a complex subject, consisting of
somewhat that is natural, as a convenient access from the sea, a
safe situation against winds, and a shore upon which vessels may
well unlade; something that is artificial, as keys, wharves and
warehouses; and something that is civil, as privileges and regula-
tions given to it by the government. A public port often includes
more than the bare place where ships lade or unlade; it is some-
(b) Attorney-General v. Burridge, 6 Exch. Rep, 356; 1 Fowl. Exch. Pra. 257.
(e) Buszard v. Capel, 13 Com. Law Rep. 379— (d) Attorney.General v. Parmeter,
6 Exch. Rep. 373.
47 v.3
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