Public Trust Rights

Definition

Coastal public trust rights include an indeterminate and evolving set of faculties grounded in the principle of free access to the coast. Primary coastal public trust rights that include pedestrian access, navigation, swimming, hunting, and fishing arose under the Roman Digest and have remained ever since. After recreational uses adjoined these customary faculties in the second half of the twentieth century, the latest coastal acts bear yet a third generation that incorporates education and research. According to the North Carolina General Statutes (1982), public trust rights are “those rights held in trust by the State for the use and benefit of the people of the State in common. They are established by common law [and] include, but are not limited to, the right to navigate, swim, hunt, fish, and enjoy all recreational activities in the watercourses of the State and the right to freely use and enjoy the State’s ocean and estuarine beaches and public access to the beaches.”

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