Public-Trust Doctrine
Definition
The principle that the sovereign holds a natural resource in trust for the public, protecting the public’s rights to access and use the resource. The doctrine has been commonly applied to shoreland along navigable or tidal waters, such that everyone has rights to access and use that shoreland for navigation, fishing, and recreational purposes. Typically, the doctrine applies to the strip of land between the low and high water or tide mark. In the United States, the doctrine is most commonly used to ensure public access to the beach.