In an area of shifting sands, the Suffolk County Supreme Court in Semlear, et al. v. Albert Marine Construction, Inc., delineated property rights landward of the crest of the dune, the “line of demarcation”, and the rights of the Southampton Town Trustees to regulate the placement of shoreline protection structures along the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean. The Town Trustees
Drawing a Line in the Sand: Court Defines Southampton Trustees’ Authority To Regulate Erosion Protection Structures Along the Shoreline
Three distinct common law rules deal with the capricious nature of the shoreline. These terms are referred to in the legal community as accretion, erosion and avulsion.