DERELICT
DERELICT, common law. This term is applied in the common law in a different sense from what it bears in the civil law. In the former it is applied to lands left by the sea.
2. When so left by degrees the derelict land belongs to the owner of the soil adjoining but when the sea retires suddenly, it belongs to the government. 2 Bl. Com. 262 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 239; 1 Sumn. 328, 490 1 Gallis. 138; Bee, R. 62, 178, 260; Ware, R. 332.