I should have said "any evidence" rather than "any historic evidence." I was
trying to emphasize that any historic evidence at all would prove the case for
navigability, regardless of whether it is current. Current navigation would
unquestionably prove navigability.
My thinking was influenced by the legal distinction here in Louisiana between
those streams that are and are not legally navigable. (Navigable waterbottoms
are inalienable property of the state, whereas others are private property.)
Many smaller streams are legally navigable based on the historic record,
although they haven't seen commerce since the arrival of railroads and highways.
Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "m06079" <barbaria_longa@...>
To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 6:52 PM
Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Re: questions aroused by brownlie
> & why only historic
>
> wouldnt actual navigation in the present be given more weight than
> historic navigability if a question ever came up
>
>
> --- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "m06079" <barbaria_longa@h...>
> wrote:
> > --- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "Lowell G. McManus" <
> > mcmanus71496@m...> wrote:
> > > In POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY (Second Edition) by Norman J. G. Pounds (New York:
> > > McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1972), which was one of my graduate school
textbooks,
> > > says on page 88:
> > >
> > > > It was decided in 1920 that in navigable rivers the
> > > > boundary should follow the "principal channel"
> > > > (thalweg) and in other cases the median line."
> > >
> > > Unfortunately, Dr. Pounds does not say by whom it was so decided.
> >
> > hahahahahah
> > hahaha
> >
> > & i completely understand & agree with & thank you for this & all these
> > comments
> >
> >
> > any idea why only civilized
> > & why only commerce
> >
> > how about navigation for noncommericial economic activity
> >
> > or how about rural or savage trade or service
> >
> > & what do you suppose is the minimum standard of commercial activity
> >
> > would a single individual trader or fisherman in a canoe qualify
> >
> > how about a pleasure cruise
> >
> > >
> > > I can't cite a source, but it is my distinct impression that a stream is
> > > officially considered navigable if there is any historic evidence of
civilized
> > > river-borne commerce upon it. Since the rivers were often the only
realistic
> > > routes into the interior of Africa, I would expect the vast majority of
riverine
> > > boundaries there to be considered navigable.
> > >
> > > Of course, the whole thing is moot if the states agree to a boundary of a
> > > particular description in the stream.
> > >
> > > Lowell G. McManus
> > > Leesville, Louisiana, USA
>
>
>
>
>
>
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