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According to Black's Law Dictionary, littoral rights are "rights concerning properties abutting an ocean, sea or lake rather than a river or stream (riparian). Littoral rights are usually concerned with the use and enjoyment of the shore." Mississippi courts have explicitly adopted this traditional definition.¹ Although the statute at issue in Watts v. Lawrence (Miss. Code Ann. § 49-15-9) refers to riparian rights rather than littoral rights, the Mississippi Supreme Court uses the terms interchangeably. "Riparian/littoral rights are codified in Miss. Code Ann. § 49-15-9 (1972)."² According to the court, examples of littoral rights "include the right to plant and gather oysters, construct bath houses, piers, and other structures in front of any land bordering on the Gulf of Mexico or Mississippi Sound."³

However, since 1908, the State's high court has held littoral rights to be something other than real-property rights.⁴ In Mississippi, littoral rights are considered more akin to privileges or licenses.⁵ These privileges or licenses can be revoked.⁶ In interpreting a previous version of § 49-15-9, the state supreme court stated, "[the] privilege or license is necessarily subject to the superior right of the state to impose an additional public use upon such property already set aside for a public purpose, without requiring the payment of compensation for it."⁷
 

Endnotes

^{1 See}Watts v. Lawrence, 690 So. 2d 1162, 1164 (Miss. 1997). See also Mississippi State Highway Commission v. Gilich, 609 So. 2d 367, 369 n.5 (Miss. 1992).
² Mississippi State Highway Commission v. Gilich, 609 So. 2d 367, 375 (Miss. 1992).
³ Id.
⁴ Id. (citing Catchot v. Zeigler, 45 So. 707 (1908)).
⁵ Id.
⁶ Id. (citing Crary v. State Highway Commission, 68 So. 2d 468 (1953)).
⁷ Crary v. State Highway Commission, 68 So. 2d 468, 471 (1953).

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