Section 11.10 Navigable Waters

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G. (§11.10) Navigable Waters

Admiralty jurisdiction is defined by reference to maritime matters, which are in turn defined with regard to the character of the waters where an occurrence or transaction occurs as "navigable." Admiralty jurisdiction extends to all waters—salt or fresh, internal or artificial—that are, in fact, navigable in interstate or foreign commerce. GRANT GILMORE & CHARLES L. BLACK, JR., THE LAW OF ADMIRALTY § 1-11 (2^nd ed. 1975). "In short, then, navigable waters of the United States are those waters capable, in fact, of navigation in interstate travel or commerce, and distinctions between natural and man-made bodies of water are immaterial." Sanders v. Placid Oil Co., 861 F.2d 1374, 1377 (5^th Cir. 1988). A stream is navigable when, in its ordinary condition, it will, by itself or with other waters, form a continuous highway on which commerce is or may be carried on with other states or countries in the customary modes in which such commerce is carried. The Daniel Ball, 77 U.S. (10 Wall.) 557 (1870).

Waters completely bounded by land within the borders of a state and with no navigable outlet to any other interstate waters will be considered non-navigable and subject to the laws of the state within which they lie. Shogry v. Lewis, 225 F. Supp. 741 (W.D. Pa. 1964).

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has restricted the ambit of federal admiralty jurisdiction in a series of cases involving Missouri waters. In Livingston v. United States, 627 F.2d 165 (8^th Cir. 1980), the court held that the Norfolk River running south from Howell County, Missouri, to the confluence with the White River near Norfolk, Arkansas, is not within federal admiralty jurisdiction. Although once employed for commercial shipping, the Norfolk River has been closed to significant commercial...