{"id":32150,"date":"2025-07-19T09:00:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T09:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=32150"},"modified":"2025-07-19T09:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T09:30:09","slug":"an-ancient-law-could-shape-the-modern-future-of-americas-beaches-heres-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=32150","title":{"rendered":"An Ancient Law Could Shape the Modern Future of America\u2019s Beaches. Here\u2019s How."},"content":{"rendered":"
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The growing battle over how to manage sea level rise turns partly on a legal principle set down in Roman times.<\/p>\n

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If you go to a beach this summer, you might end up sunbathing in disputed territory. That\u2019s partly because of climate change and partly because of a legal principle from the Roman Empire.<\/p>\n

Most beaches have a natural defense against rising seas: The sandy area simply moves landward. But when property owners install sea walls or other barriers to protect beachfront homes and other buildings, the beach has nowhere to go. So it vanishes underwater.<\/p>\n

Geologists call it coastal squeeze. It\u2019s not a new problem, but it\u2019s been accelerating recently as climate change causes sea levels to rise. And that\u2019s prompting urgent questions about how coastal landscapes should be managed.<\/p>\n

Richard K. Norton, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Law, described the situation with a question: \u201cAre you going to save the beach house, or do you want to save the beach?\u201d he said at a recent conference in New York City organized by Columbia University. \u201cBecause you cannot save them both.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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At issue is a legal concept from the sixth century A.D., when Emperor Justinian ordered the codification of Roman laws. The resulting code declared that features of nature like the air, running water, the sea and \u201cthe shores of the sea\u201d must be held in trust for the use of the public. That idea passed into English common law, and then to the United States.<\/p>\n

Today, most states define the beach below the high-tide line as public trust property, meaning members of the public have free access.<\/p>\n

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The growing battle over how to manage sea level rise turns partly on a legal principle set down in Roman times.If you go to a beach this summer, you might end up sunbathing in disputed territory. That\u2019s partly because of climate change and partly because of a legal principle from the Roman Empire.Most beaches have a natural defense against rising seas: The sandy area simply moves landward. But when property owners install sea walls or other barriers to protect beachfront homes and other buildings, the beach has nowhere to go. So it vanishes underwater.Geologists call it coastal squeeze. It\u2019s not a new problem, but it\u2019s been accelerating recently as climate change causes sea levels to rise. And that\u2019s prompting urgent questions about how coastal landscapes should be managed.Richard K. Norton, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Law, described the situation with a question: \u201cAre you going to save the beach house, or do you want to save the beach?\u201d he said at a recent conference in New York City organized by Columbia University. \u201cBecause you cannot save them both.\u201dAt issue is a legal concept from the sixth century A.D., when Emperor Justinian ordered the codification of Roman laws. The resulting code declared that features of nature like the air, running water, the sea and \u201cthe shores of the sea\u201d must be held in trust for the use of the public. That idea passed into English common law, and then to the United States.Today, most states define the beach below the high-tide line as public trust property, meaning members of the public have free access.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32152,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32150"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32153,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32150\/revisions\/32153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}