Commercial Transactions and Real Estate News

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Title To Marsh Islands Clarified

The South Carolina Supreme Court has clarified title issues concerning what may be thousands of islands along the South Carolina coast which are "situate within marshland." Estate of Tenney v. S.C Dept. of Health and Envtl. Control, No. 26965 (Apr. 25, 2011). In this 2011 case, the South Carolina Supreme Court considered again a principle it had initially stated in two prior cases, Coburg, Inc. v. Lesser, 309 S.C. 252, 422 S.E.2d 96 (1992) and Coburg Dairy, Inc. v. Lesser, 318 S.C. 510, 458 S.E.2d 547 (1995) in which the Court's decision had extended the "public trust" doctrine to islands in the marsh (called "hammocks" by the Court and often referred to as "hummocks" by residents) but above the mean high water mark. In the 2011 case, the Court expressly overruled the "specific principle" from the Coburg cases that "ownership of islands situate within marshland follows ownership of the marshland." 309 S.C. at 253, 422 S.E.2d at 97.