Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 46-6 - Obstructions to Navigation

• Abandoned vessel: means a vessel that has been left, moored, or anchored in the same area without the express consent, or contrary to the rules of, the owner, manager, or lessee of the submerged lands or waters below or on which the vessel is located for more than forty-five (45) consecutive days or for more than a total of ninety (90) days in any three hundred sixty-five (365) day period, and the vessel's owner is: (i) Not known or cannot be located; or (ii) Known and located but is unwilling to take control of the vessel. See Rhode Island General Laws 46-6-8.1
• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Authorized public entity: means the department of environmental management or any municipality with jurisdiction or management authority over the harbor areas where an abandoned or derelict vessel or other obstruction is located. See Rhode Island General Laws 46-6-8.1
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the department of environmental management. See Rhode Island General Laws 46-6-8.1
• Derelict vessel: means a vessel whose owner is known and can be located, and who is able to exert control of a vessel that:

  (i)  Has been moored, anchored, or otherwise left in the waters or submerged lands of the state or on public property contrary to the rules adopted by an authorized public entity;

  (ii)  Is sunk or in danger of sinking;

  (iii)  Is obstructing a waterway; and/or

  (iv)  Is endangering life or property. See Rhode Island General Laws 46-6-8.1

• Director: means the director of the department of environmental management. See Rhode Island General Laws 46-6-8.1
• in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Mean high water: means a line of contour representing the eighteen and six-tenths (18. See Rhode Island General Laws 46-6-8.1
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Obstruction: means any unlawful or unauthorized structure or thing that is deposited or suffered to be or remain in the tidal waters or upon the tidal lands of the state, and in the judgment of the director, is, or is liable to cause or become an obstruction to the safe and convenient use of the waters and submerged lands of the state for navigation and other lawful purposes. See Rhode Island General Laws 46-6-8.1
• Owner: means a person, other than a lienholder, having a property interest in or title to a vessel or other obstruction. See Rhode Island General Laws 46-6-8.1
• person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• Tidal lands: means those lands that are below the mean high water. See Rhode Island General Laws 46-6-8.1
• Tidal waters: means all waters seaward of mean high water. See Rhode Island General Laws 46-6-8.1
• United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8
• Vessel: means every description of watercraft, other than a seaplane on the water, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water. See Rhode Island General Laws 46-6-8.1
• Waters and submerged lands of the state: means all tidal waters and tidal lands within the territorial limits of the state, all inland waters of the state, and all publicly owned submerged lands lying beneath the inland waters of the state. See Rhode Island General Laws 46-6-8.1