Sediment (Alluvium) Deposited by a River as a Means of Acquiring Property Rights in Roman and Ancient Georgian Law

Abstract

The article discusses sediment as one of the sources of acquisition of property rights in Roman and ancient Georgian law. Even Roman jurists drew attention to the fact that the flow of the river sometimes led to an increase or decrease in land plots adjacent to the channel. The article examines the rules related to sediment in Roman law and Georgian feudal law, based on the analysis of which the types of sediment were distinguished, in the form of insignificant increase of land over time. Attention is also focused on the scope of the right, which was extended to the land that arose on river’s bottom as a result of the drying of its bed. Research has shown that under Roman law, the rights of owners of land adjoining a river depended entirely on where the land was split, whether in the middle or closer to either bank, due to the fact that the river flooded the other side. Based on the comparative analysis of Roman law and ancient Georgian law, the fundamental difference between their approaches was highlighted. The national law shows more conservatism when regulating the legal relationship arising due to the change of the river bed, which is also emphasized in the article. Due to the scarcity of the legal base on sediment, in order to achieve the goal of the research, using the analogy of the law, the rules for obtaining ownership rights to minerals are discussed, since it is closest to sediment.